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THE 


Iron Age of Germany. 


©ranslaUb from t(|e German 

OF 

FRAI^i ^HOFFMANN, 

By REBECCA H. SCHIVELY. 

WITH 

A HISTORIC SKETCH OF THE TIME, 
By C. P. KRAUTH, D.D. 


/ 

PHILADELPHIA: 

LUTHERAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
42 North Ninth Street. 

1870. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by the 
LUTHERAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 


Wkstcott & Thomson, 
StereotyperSf Philada. 


Caxton Press of 

Sherman & Co., Philadelphia 


CONTENTS 


THE IRON AGE OF GERMANY. 

I. 

PAGE 

A GOOD SAMARITAN 9 

II. 

TRUE GRATITUDE.:. 32 

III. 

THE YOUNG SPY 52 

IV. 

THE SIEGE 86 

V. 

THE STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. 122 

VI. 

A NEW HOME 153 

5 


6 


CONTENTS 


A HISTORIC SKETCH OF THE THIRTY 
YEARS’ WAR. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

HOW THE IRON AGE CAME IN 169 

CHAPTER II. 

HOW THE STEEL BROKE THE IRON 189 

CHAPTER HI. 

THE SWEDES’ STONE 199 

CHAPTER IV. 

HOW THE IRON AGE WENT OUT 318 


-'rr4 




PUBLISHED 

BY 

ST. PETER’S EVAN. LUTHERAN 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

OF 

BARREN .HILL, PA. 

Rev. J. R. DIMM, Pastor. 




THE 

IRON AGE OF GERMANY. 


I. 

A GOOD SAMARITAN, 

When my father and my mother forsake me^ then the 
Lord will take me upT 

T T was near the close of a bleak day in 
February. The sun had almost touched 
the horizon, and was casting a dull red light 
across the fields, which were still clad in 
snow — not white and soft, but gray and 
muddy. Not a human form could be seen as 
far as sight could reach. A flock of crows 
had collected in a grove of tall, slender trees 

by the roadside, and were noisily contending 

9 



10 


THE IRON AGE. 


for the best-sheltered places among the leaf- 
less branches. Some half a league distant 
the walls and towers of the fortress of Magde- 
burg glimmered through the misty air ; the 
grand cathedral, with its mighty pyramidal 
spire, rising high above the rest of the town 
like a gigantic sentinel. A chill, moist wind 
swept over the plain, driving before it the few 
snow-flakes that floated slowly downward 
from the clouds that hung dim and dreary 
above the cheerless landscape. 

And now a solitary foot-traveler appeared 
upon the well-worn road that led to the 
town. He walked very slowly, apparently 
because he was weary, for he often stopped 
for some minutes at a time to lean on the 
stout, knobbed stick he carried, and cast 
longing glances toward the city. Measuring 
with his eyes the path that lay between him 
and its gates, he sighed deeply ; the distance 
was not, indeed, very great, yet he seemed to 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. 


II 


doubt whether he could accomplish it. ** But 
I must!” he said to himself; “I must, if I 
would not perish with cold and hunger I” 

He summoned all his remaining strength 
and pressed forward, panting for breath, and 
now and then stumbling. His appearance 
was most pitiful. He could scarcely walk; 
his clothing was soiled and ragged, and barely 
sufficed to cover him. His poor, weary feet 
were encased in worn shoes — so worn that his 
toes peeped through the holes. An old fox- 
skin cap covered his head, which drooped 
mournfully upon his bosom. Hunger, dis- 
tress, exhaustion, were written upon his pale, 
wasted features. Large drops rolled from his 
forehead, his lips now and then quivered 
painfully, and many tears flowed over the 
haggard cheeks from eyes that seemed to 
have lost all their fire. 

He was, indeed, a picture of misery; yet, 
on approaching that trembling figure, one 


12 


THE IRON AGE. 


would have been surprised to observe a cer- 
tain noble expression which made itself visible 
in spite of the poverty of his external appear- 
ance. The traveler was still very young — 
scarcely more than fifteen or sixteen years of 
age. Clustering locks of brown hair strayed 
from beneath the old cap; his countenance, 
though wasted, was comely and pleasant ; his 
eyes were large, and though heavy and 
mournful, still their tender blue hue was like 
the soft light of the lovely amethyst. Nor 
did a slight and pliant form and white hands 
harmonize with his tattered clothes, but 
seemed to intimate that this poor, half-starved 
creature had seen better days. 

Toiling onward with great difficulty, he 
reached the grove in which the crows were 
still cawing and quarreling, and looked sadly 
up at them. 

“ It is well for you,” he said, with a sigh. 
“The merciful Lord has given you warm 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. I3 

clothing. He feeds you even at the bitterest 
season. At the worst, all the sufferings you 
have to endure you bear in company. For 
me, I am alone; I am cold, I am hungry, I 
am tired almost to death, and no one cares for 
me ! O God, have pity on a poor orphan !” 

He raised his eyes imploringly to the dark- 
ening sky and clasped his hands in prayer on 
the top of his staff. The last dull glow of the 
setting sun fell upon his face and was reflected 
from the tears that clung to his long eye- 
lashes. For a moment he stood thus, 
absorbed in silent, earnest petitions. Were 
they heard in heaven ? Ah, dear reader, is 
believing prayer ever unheard ? 

In the next moment a faithless soul might 
well have doubted ; for, once more endeavor- 
ing to proceed on his journey, the poor boy’s 
strength failed him; reeling for a moment 
from one side to the other, the ground seemed 

to give way beneath his steps, his stout stick 
2 


14 


THE IRON AGE. 


no longer supported him, and with a faint cry 
he fell and lay motionless on the cold earth. 
His eyes were closed and he scarcely 
breathed. 

How lonely, how deserted he seemed! 
But because he was not alone, because He 
who clothes the birds watched no less over 
this his child, the boy was not suffered to 
perish. Five minutes had not passed when 
the rapid trot of a horse resounded along the 
frozen road, and directly a tall, fine-looking 
man appeared, mounted on a noble animal, 
which started aside in affright on seeing the 
apparently lifeless form stretched across its 
path. 

*‘What have we here?” exclaimed the 
rider, curbing his restive horse; ‘^a young 
man, unconscious — perhaps dead! I must 
see to him !” 

The horse was easily quieted, and now 
stood quite still, while his master, saying a 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. I5 

few soothing words and stroking him gently, 
sprang from his saddle, then leaned over the 
unconscious youth and raised his head, look- 
ing compassionately into his face. 

Poor fellow !” he murmured. “ How he 
must have suffered in these stormy times ! 
Thank God, he is still living! I can save 
him I” 

He gently laid the boy’s head down, and 
took from his saddle-bags a small flask of 
wine. Pouring a little of it into- his hand, he 
rubbed the boy’s forehead and temples, and 
then put the mouth of the flask to his lips. 
The now half-conscious youth drank, and 
seemed as if animated by new life ; he opened 
his eyes and gazed with a wondering ex- 
pression at the man who was bending over 
him. 

Oh, sir,” he inquired with difficulty, 
“ where am I ?” 

“ With a friend, my poor boy,” replied the 


l6 THE IRON AGE. 

stranger, kindly. “ Drink a little more of 
this ; it will strengthen you.” 

The youth eagerly took a few drops from 
the flask. His eyes recovered their natural 
expression as consciousness returned, and 
in a few moments, with the aid of his bene- 
factor, he was able to rise and stand, leaning 
upon his stick. 

Thank you, sir!” he said. “You have, 
no doubt, saved my life, and God will one 
day repay your kindness. I am stronger 
now, and I hope I shall be able to reach the 
town.” 

“ Have you friends or relations there ?” 

“ No, I am acquainted with no one in Mag- 
deburg,” replied the boy, sadly, “ but I must 
try to find food and shelter there ; if nothing 
better, at least a crust of bread and permission 
to sleep in some shed. I am almost starving, 
dear sir ; but I trust that God will not forsake 
me!” 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. 1/ 

** He has not forsaken you, my son ! I see 
you are too weak to walk. Get up behind 
me on my horse, and hold fast by my belt. 
It will soon be quite dark, and as you are a 
stranger to the city, it might be difficult for 
you to find lodgings. For to-night, at least, 
you must stay at my house; afterward we 
shall see what can be done for you. Do not 
be afraid ; my horse is gentle.” 

With these words he mounted and ex- 
tended his hand to assist the boy, who, not- 
withstanding his weakness, took his seat 
quickly and easily, and retained it with a very 
slight hold upon his companion’s belt. 

‘‘ It is not the first time you have been on 
horseback?” said the stranger, a little sur- 
prised. 

Oh no, sir !” the boy answered ; I have 
managed many horses. I have been accus- 
tomed to them ever since I was a child. I 

never was afraid, even of the most spirited 
2 * B 


l8 THE IRON AGE. 

ones. Ah, that is all over now ! My parents 
are dead, and all they had is gone; their 
house and stables were burned down, and the 
cattle and horses driven away, I am the only 
one of the family left — a poor, homeless beg- 
gar!" 

*‘What sorrows for one so young!” ex- 
claimed the kind stranger. Who were your 
parents, and where was your home? How 
did all these misfortunes happen you ?” 

“ Oh, sir, it is a sad story ; it almost breaks 
my heart to think of it ! My father lived on 
a fine estate in the country, near the boundary 
line between Saxony and Bohemia, and at 
such a distance from the great highway of 
the army that, until the calamity I have men- 
tioned to you, we scarcely suffered any of the 
distresses of the war, though it has raged for 
so many years and caused so much sorrow 
and death. Only once in a while a band of 
marauders would make their appearance in 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. I9 

the village, but their demands were always 
moderate, and they retired as soon as my 
father and the peasants had satisfied them.” 

“ What was your father’s name ?” 

** Hans von Waldon, formerly captain in 
the imperial service. But for twenty years 
he had laid aside the sword and devoted him- 
self to the cultivation of his land. He was 
^ery, very kind. The peasants all loved him, 
and regarded him as a just father rather than 
as a strict master. Yet there was always 
something soldierly about him, and perhaps 
this was one reason why he was so little 
troubled by the straggling freebooters that I 
have mentioned. This being the case, we 
unfortunately learned to feel ourselves quite 
secure; my dear, brave father, particularly, 
knew no fear. My mother, indeed, often 
warned us, and entreated my father most 
urgently to remove to a greater distance from 
the scene of war — far enough to be spared 


20 


THE IRON AGE. 


any annoyance whatever — but he only smiled 
at our fears. 

“ ' Be easy, mother,’ he used to say. ‘ An 
old soldier is always a match for soldiers !’ 

“ Ah, if he had but listened to her ! About 
a league from our village my father possessed 
a fine, large, fruitful valley, which, however, 
was only used as pasture land. There my 
dear mother thought we might live undis- 
turbed until the tumult of war should be 
over. It would have been somewhat difficult, 
indeed, to molest any one residing there, for 
the only entrance to the valley is one neither 
easy to find nor hard to defend, even against 
a considerable force. This pass lies between 
high, wall-like sandstone rocks, and is scarcely 
six feet broad. But, as I said, my father 
would not be persuaded to go there ; it seemed 
to him so cowardly to creep behind the rocks 
for protection. 

“ For a long time all went well, but at last 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. 


21 


the destroying storm burst over our heads. 
It was at the dear, holy Christmas-time, just 
before the happy evening that children’s 
hearts so love. My brother and sisters and 
myself were enjoying our Christmas tree and 
the many beautiful presents that our parents 
had laid under its bending branches for us. 
How full of joy and 'thankfulness we were 
that night, not only to our dear father and 
mother, but to God for the best gift of all — 
the precious Saviour whose birth we were 
celebrating ! All danger was forgotten, when 
suddenly one of our peasants burst in with 
the news that a scouting party of rough sol- 
diery — foot and horse — was approaching the 
village. My father received the intelligence 
coolly, but my mother was more seriously 
alarmed than she had Over been before, and 
begged my father to flee while there was yet 
time. We might still, she urged, save our- 
selves, our cattle and some of our goods, by 


22 


THE IRON AGE. 


hiding in the silver-ground — for so was the 
valley called — and whatever we might lose, 
we should escape the worst. But my father 
still resisted her entreaties, relying on his 
ability to repel this attack, as he had other 
similar ones. 

“‘They are but soldiers,’ he said. ‘I am 
not afraid of them !’ 

“ For a long time we had not been visited 
by any very desperate parties ; but those who 
were now preparing to attack our village 
were of the most lawless kind that a long life 
of plunder and bloodshed can produce. They 
were a fierce-looking set ; their clothing was 
tattered, but their weapons were bright. A 
number of them, with a ruffianly fellow at 
their head, came into our yard and shouted 
rudely for the master of ^the house. My 
father went fearlessly to meet them, accosting 
the leader in his usual quiet, civil manner. 

“‘You may take all you need, Herr com- 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. 23 

rade,’ he said to the man whose fierce looks 
frightened all the rest of us ; ^ only, I beg of 
you, keep your party in order, and do not 
allow any violence.’ 

“'Oho!’ exclaimed the rufifian, with a 
scornful laugh ; ' does this country fellow 
mean to dictate terms to us? Fell the in- 
solent hound to the earth, men, and then in 
and clear the house ! The sport must be up 
in an hour !’ 

“'You will not enter the house like rob- 
bers and murderers !’ said my father, warmly. 
' Whatever you require will be given you. I 
hope I have to do with honorable soldiers, 
not with outlaws I’ 

“ ' Dog I’ thundered the ruffian, snatching a 
pistol from his saddle-girth; 'this for your 
boldness !’ And with these words he leveled 
the pistol at my father and stretched him 
dead on the ground. Then the furious rabble 
rushed into the house, wasting and destroying 


24 


THE IRON AGE. 


everything, and striking down every person 
they met. I had seized my father’s sword, 
and, with some of the servants, tried to keep 
back the invaders. But, strong though we 
felt in our desperation, what could we do 
against such a number? A blow from the 
flat side of a sword left me senseless on the 
ground. My mother, my brother and sisters 
were all cut down without mercy. None of 
the servants — either men or women — were 
spared. A faithful old domestic, who had had 
the care of our horses, snatched me from the 
bloody spot. Concealed by the smoke that 
filled the rooms, he carried me away in the 
hope of reaching the nearest wood. This he 
had almost done when a musket ball, too well 
aimed, struck him in the back, shattering the 
spine. 

‘ Fly, Carl ; fly into the woods !’ he said 
to me with his last breath. * They are com- 
ing after us !’ 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. 2$ 

“ Terrified, and only yet half conscious, I 
obeyed him, and quickly reached the pro- 
tecting wood. A shot or two sounded be- 
hind me, but the bullets whizzed past without 
touching me. I went on as far as I had 
strength to run, and sank down at last, faint 
and exhausted, on a heap of dry leaves under 
the bare trees. 

I lay there weeping in agony until it was 
quite dark. Then I rose and tried to find 
out exactly where I was, intending to go 
back to the village. Alas, I was not obliged 
to seek the road very long ! In the direction 
of the village the sky was glowing with a 
brilliant red light. I hurried toward it, and as 
soon as I was out of the woods my suspicions 
were sadly confirmed. The outlaws had 
thrown firebrands into the houses, and all the 
village was in a blaze. Oh what a fearful 
sight it was ! Nothing was to be seen of the 
enemy ; there was not a living human being, 

3 


26 


THE IRON AGE. 


indeed, anywhere around. Cautiously I went 
nearer. Nothing stirred. There was no 
sound save the roaring and crackling of the 
flames ; all else lay in the stillness of death. 
What a miserable Christmas eve ! All were 
snatched from me at one dreadful moment — 
parents, home, brother, sisters — all ! I wept 
half the night, until at last, quite worn out, I 
fell asleep under the open sky. When I 
awoke in the morning, nothing was left of the 
village but a heap of black and smoking 
ruins. Heavy-hearted and tearful, I searched 
every spot, hoping to find some one alive, 
but in vain. All that had made the happi- 
ness of my childhood lay buried in one awful 
grave ; not a single heart beat in my old home 
to comfort me or to suffer with me. A few 
hours had made me an orphan and a beggar. 

I lingered there three days, thinking that 
some others might, like myself, have escaped 
and would come back. But I was disap- 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. 2/ 

pointed. If there were any who had not 
been murdered, the enemy must have made 
them prisoners. Hunger at last drove me 
from the place. I cut a staff for myself, cast 
one farewell look upon the ruins of my dear 
home, and turned my back upon it, perhaps 
for ever. Since then I have wandered from 
place to place begging my bread. Many a 
night, when I could find no other shelter, I 
have slept under a haystack or in a shed. 
When I saw the towers of Magdeburg in the 
distance, I resolved to go there and look for 
some work by which to support my’dreary 
life. But when I reached the spot where you 
found me, dear sir, I could go no farther; I 
was exhausted by hunger and fatigue. With- 
out your kindness I should, perhaps, have 
died like a dog, lying there by the roadside. 
Oh, it is terrible !” 

'‘Terrible indeed, my poor Carl! I pity 
you with all my heart!” returned his kind 


28 


THE IRON AGE. 


benefactor, with deep emotion. “ But be 
comforted, and try to overcome your grief for 
the past. God would not have us mourn as 
those without hope. He has led me to you, 
and I will not forsake you. You shall find a 
second home in my house so long as it shel- 
ters me and mine. But we live in troublous 
times, and no one can feel secure. What has 
happened to you may soon be my own lot. 
The sword of war hangs threateningly over 
our heads. In the Lord alone can we hope 
for protection. Magdeburg is a strongly- 
fortified town, but a mortal enemy lurks, like 
a tiger, not far distant, ready at any moment 
to spring upon it. The iron-hearted Tilly is 
at hand ; any day may bring us news of the 
approach of his army. Well, it must be as 
God wills; we must only wait his pleasure 
in humble faith.” 

They rode on silently until, just as the 
shades of night fell, they entered the city. 


A GOOD SAMARITAN. 29 

Passing through a heavy, arched gate, they 
traversed the Broad Way,” as the principal 
street of Magdeburg was even then called, 
and about a hundred paces from the entrance 
to the city the horse stopped before a large 
house, in which several windows were bril- 
liantly lighted. 

“ This is my house and your home, at least 
for the present, my boy,” said Carl’s pro- 
tector. “ The blessing of the Lord be upon 
your stay here, and may you find with us at 
least a portion of the happiness you have 
lost!” 

The house door at this moment opened, 
and an old servant came out with a lantern, 
respectfully saluting his master, but casting a 
look of surprise and inquiry at the youth. 

‘^ This young man is to live with us, Gotts- 
chalk,” said the master. See that he has a 
good supper and a comfortable bed at once ; 

it is too late for introductions to-night.” 

3* 


30 


THE IRON AGE. 


So saying, the gentleman, whom the old 
servant addressed as Herr Sparnagel, gave up 
to him the bridle of his horse, and with a 
friendly glance and nod to his young com- 
panion, and a word of assurance that Gotts- 
chalk would do all that was necessary to his 
comfort for the night, went up the high flight 
of steps to the second story of the house. 

The horse being put into the stable, Carl 
was conducted into the large, old-fashioned 
kitchen, and kindly served by the old domes- 
tic. Then he was shown to a room with a 
comfortable bed, and left alone. Full of 
thankfulness, he knelt and poured out his fer- 
vent praise and prayer to God, who had 
brought him, after so many trials and dangers, 
into so quiet a haven of rest ; after which he 
soon fell into a deep and refreshing sleep. 



II. 

TRUE GRATITUDE. 

** I can do all things through Christy which strengthenetk 
^ me:^ 

OAD and trying times indeed they were 
^ which had brought the unfortunate Carl 
von Waldon into the house of the wealthy 
Magdeburg merchant, Herr Sparnagel, as a 
dependent on his bounty. The eventful war, 
which was wasting the finest bloom of Ger- 
man life, and causing untold miseries to the 
people, had now raged for thirteen years, and 
none could predict when it would end. But 
at the time of the commencement of our 
story, an important crisis seemed approaching. 

Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish king to 

31 



32 


THE IRON AGE. 


whom the sorely-tried Protestants had ap- 
pealed for aid, had landed on the German 
shores, and was everywhere driving the im- 
perial troops before him. The king’s suc- 
cesses emboldened the administrator of the 
rich archbishopric of Magdeburg, Prince 
Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg (who had, 
a few years before, been proscribed by the 
emperor and had taken flight), to return to 
the city secretly and in disguise. There he 
unexpectedly appeared before the Assembly 
of the States, and called upon that body to 
make a compact with Gustavus Adolphus for 
the protection of the Protestant faith. His 
appeal was favorably received. Magdeburg 
and its vicinity had already suffered from the 
destructive violence of the .imperial troops 
under Wallenstein — treatment which was not 
easily forgotten. An agreement was con- 
cluded between the city and the Swedish 
king, by which Magdeburg assured to Gus- 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 33 

tavus Adolphus entrance into its territory and 
through its gates, in consideration of a solemn 
promise of protection in their religion and 
their rights. 

Directly after the conclusion of this com- 
pact, the administrator, Christian Wilhelm, 
raised an armed force, and commenced hos- 
tilities against the imperial troops before Gus- 
tavus Adolphus was near enough to render 
him effectual aid. At first he gained some 
advantages ; he captured several divisions of" 
the enemy’s forces, won some trifling victories, 
and even surprised the city of Halle. But 
the approach of Tilly’s army soon obliged 
him to retreat in haste to Magdeburg, and the 
city would now have been exposed to the 
horrors of a siege, but that the Swedish king 
just at this time made considerable advances, 
with important results. Count von Pappen- 
heim had not only approached Magdeburg, 

but had driven the administrator’s troops 

c 


34 the iron age. 

from all the surrounding posts ; and already, 
after a fruitless summons to Prince Christian 
Wilhelm to surrender, Tilly was disposing his 
forces so as to surround the fortress on all 
sides, when he received news that the import- 
ant city of Frankfort-on-the-Oder was threat- 
ened by Gustavus Adolphus. This caused 
him suddenly to raise the siege, in order to 
meet the King of Sweden as speedily as pos- 
sible ; but, in withdrawing his troops, he did 
so with a threat of an early and terrible re- 
turn. 

This was the state of affairs when Herr 
Sparnagel offered to the youth he had found 
on the road the protection of his house. The 
threatening cloud had rolled away for a time, 
and the citizens could breathe freely ; but at 
any moment it might return and scatter its 
dreaded lightnings upon their heads. It was 
not without good reason that Herr Sparnagel 
had said that no one, in such times, could 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 35 

feel secure against sudden destruction and 
misery. As a prudent head of a family, he 
had prepared himself for every emergency; 
he had some time before converted as much 
of his property as he could into gold and 
jewels, which could be easily concealed, or, 
if necessary, carried away.* The little treasure 
lay hidden in the lowest cellar of his house, 
in a place hard to be discovered by the very 
closest search. 

Carl soon felt very much at home in Herr 
Sparnagel’s little family ; his sorrows and his 
orphaned state were enough to call forth all 
their sympathy, and he was welcomed among 
them as one of their own. Frau Sparnagel — 
a lady of noble appearance and still more 
noble heart — bestowed upon him a mother’s 
love, a mother’s care. Their only child, 
Elizabeth — a pretty, gentle little girl of six — 
soon learned to love her new brother dearly. 
A few days sufficed to alter his appearance 


36 THE IRON AGE. 

from what it had been when we first met him 
on the road to Magdeburg, weary in heart 
and in body. Provided by Frau Sparnagel 
with clean linen and good, suitable clothing, 
it was easier to recognize the grace and beauty 
with which God had endowed him. But, 
more than mere personal attractions, his un- 
failing gentleness and docility won for him 
the affection of his benefactors. One needed 
only to look into that open, earnest coun- 
tenance to see that a soul dwelt within from 
which divine grace had driven falsehood and 
malice far away. 

Full of gratitude to the friends who had so 
kindly and tenderly received him, Carl cher- 
ished no dearer wish than that of repaying 
their benefits in rich measure. 

For the present, indeed, there was but 
little hope of the fulfillment of his wish, and 
he was obliged to be content with making 
himself as useful as he could to Herr Spar- 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 


37 


nagel’s family, and with trying by his cheer- 
ful and obliging deportment to deserve their 
disinterested kindness. He played with the 
little Elizabeth, and told her many a pretty 
story and pleasant saying that he had heard 
in happier days from his father’s lips; for 
Herr Sparnagel he attended to every little 
business that was entrusted to him with great 
zeal and discretion. As to his second mother, 
he read her wishes in her eyes, and sought 
with touching earnestness to gratify them. 

Days and weeks passed away in sweet, 
familiar intercourse, and Carl would have 
been content so to spend his life. But again 
the thunders of war were heard muttering in 
the distance, and, speedily approaching nearer 
and nearer, filled every Magdeburger’s heart 
with dread. The imperial field-marshal, Tilly, 
had not been able to relieve Frankfort-on-the- 
Oder, and it was soon known in the city that 
he was returning, fierce as an enraged lion, to 

4 


38 THE IRON AGE. 

wreak his vengeance on the fortress of Mag- 
deburg. 

It was on a rough, stormy night, early in 
March, 1731, that Herr Sparnagel returned 
from a session of the magistracy, in whose 
council his voice was among the most in- 
fluential — often decisive — in trying crises ; his 
brow was gloomy and sad as the clouds that 
lowered in the sky, and his dark eyes were 
full of earnest gravity, even when he took his 
place in the little family circle gathered 
around the blazing hearth. Alarmed by the 
expression of anxiety so unusual with him, 
his wife took his hand and looked at him 
with tender, inquiring eyes. 

“ What has happened to distress you, dear 
husband ?” she asked. “ May we not know ? 
Troubles shared are always lightened, and 
surely you will allow your wife a part in your 
anxieties.” 

“Indeed,” replied Herr Sparnagel, “it is’ 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 39 

true that our hearts should draw closer and 
closer together. I fear sad days are before 
us. There is scarcely any doubt that Tilly 
is approaching Magdeburg with a large 
army, and all the horrors of a siege will be 
inevitable !” 

God will be with us in the time of danger, 
dear husband !” said his pious wife. “ And I 
cannot think our situation so very desperate. 
Magdeburg is a strong fortress, and if the 
powerful Wallenstein could not take it, the 
bloodthirsty Tilly may also fail. Thick walls 
and deep moats are around us, and the noble 
Gustavus Adolphus is not so far off but that 
he can soon come to our relief, if it should be 
necessary. I do not fear ! You have told 
me yourself that we have a brave and reliable 
garrison ; and I am sure our citizens are all 
courageous men, ready to draw the sword to 
protect their homes, their wives and children 
from the enemy.” 


40 


THE IRON AGE. 


“ All very true,” rejoined Herr Sparnagel, 
shaking his head with a most discouraged 
expression; “but, nevertheless, I fear the 
worst. I cannot shake off this oppressive 
anxiety. Our garrison is brave, indeed, and 
the courage of our citizens cannot be ques- 
tioned. But the enemy has a force more than 
three times as great as ours, and Tilly is 
justly renowned as a commander. He has 
conquered in a hundred battles ; will success 
desert him before the gates of Magdeburg ? 
Oh, I wish that you, dear wife, and our pre- 
cious little Elizabeth, were far away in safety. 
I think it would be best for you to go and 
take with you the little treasure I have con- 
cealed in the cellar. Let things go as the 
Lord will ; if I may but be assured of your 
safety, I fear nothing for myself!” 

Frau Sparnagel had listened with visible 
surprise and pain, and now she drew closer 
still to her husband. 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 


41 

I cannot believe that you are in earnest !” 
she remonstrated. “ / leave you in the hour 
of danger? Never! God has joined my lot 
to yours, and I should feel it a crime to sep- 
arate myself from you I With you I await 
joy or grief, life or death, according to the 
will of our Father in heaven. I am your 
faithful wife, and whatever comes to you I 
can endure at your side !” 

“Spoken as a true German wife should 
speak 1” said a deep voice behind them ; it 
was that of a man who had entered the room 
unperceived during their conversation. 

Carl looked up and saw a tall, powerful- 
looking person of martial appearance, heavily 
bearded, and with clear, penetrating eyes 
fixed respectfully upon the earnest counte- 
nance of Frau Sparnagel. 

“ I say you are right, madame !” continued 
the new-comer, “ and your husband would not 
do well to send you away.” 

4 -» 


42 


THE IRON AGE. 


“ Oh, Herr Dietrich von Falkenberg, you 
do not know what it is to see wife and 
child threatened with privation and danger !” 
said Herr Sparnagel, rising and offering his 
hand to his guest, while the latter bowed. 
“ You know, I am sure, as well as I do, that 
we must ere long undergo a trying siege. 
How much this means, you, as a tried soldier 
and captain under Gustavus Adolphus, must 
know far better than I, for to your valor and 
prudence his majesty has entrusted the de- 
fence of our city.” 

‘‘ And defend it I will, to the last drop of 
my blood!” replied Falkenberg, with grave 
earnestness. “ But we are not, as yet, in any 
trouble, nor have we received any reliable in- 
formation. Who knows but that this storm 
may blow over, especially if my king and 
commander succeeds in forming an alliance 
with the electoral prince of Brandenburg and 
Saxony ? Let him but pass unhindered 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 43 

through your country, and Tilly will scarcely 
undertake to maintain a siege.” 

“ Even then, Herr Captain, what anxiety 
for my wife and child !” 

“ And would you be less anxious, sir, if you 
had sent them from you? Where else, in 
this disturbed German land, would they find 
surer protection ? The tide of war rolls to- 
day here, to-morrow there ; no man can say 
what direction it will take next. Where else 
could your wife be more secure than in this 
strong fortress, behind wall and moat, which 
we must and will defend with our lives ? No, 
Herr Sparnagel, your wife is right ; she does 
well and nobly not to leave you !” 

The merchant seemed convinced by the 
reasoning of his soldier friend, for he offered 
no further opposition. 

Be it so,” he said, holding out his hand 
to his wife ; we will be one in suffering and 
in death !” 


44 the iron age. 

A look of faithful love and mutual under- 
standing beamed from the eyes of both, and a 
closer pressure of their united hands sealed 
the agreement. 

“ But, Herr Captain,” said Sparnagel, again 
turning to Dietrich von Falkenberg, “you 
certainly have not visited me so late only to 
be umpire between me and my good wife. 
What is your errand ? Can I serve you in 
any way? You know that I am at your 
command, with all I possess.” 

“ I have, indeed, an important errand to 
you, Herr Sparnagel,” answered Falkenberg. 
“ For some time we have had no accurate in- 
formation of the strength or the position of 
the enemy, and it is of the greatest importance 
to us to find a discreet and reliable person 
who will obtain such information for us. 
Could you recommend to me any person 
upon whose fidelity, discretion and intelligence 
I could depend? I need such a man as a 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 


45 


spy, and as his mission will be a dangerous 
one, he may count upon a rich reward if it is 
faithfully and successfully executed. You 
are acquainted with many people here ; for 
that reason I apply to you. Please be so 
kind, my friend, as to think.” 

Herr Sparnagel reflected silently. 

Prudent y intelligent y faithful— i]\osQ are 
qualities one- seldom finds united,” said he. 
“ Willingly as I would serve you, Herr von 
Falkenberg, I fear I can offer nothing but the 
wish. I know no one, indeed, to whose dis- 
cretion I could entrust such a mission. Be- 
sides, who will run the risk of being taken as 
a spy? You will hardly find such a person 
as you seek!” 

I shall be very sorry, then, for the safety 
of the city, in a great measure, depends upon 
my success,” returned Falkenberg. ** I can- 
not take proper measures for its defence with- 
out knowing what is the position of the enemy 


46 THE IRON AGE. 

and how strong he is. I do beg you, Herr 
Sparnagel, try to think of some proper per- 
son !” 

The merchant meditated; he rubbed his 
forehead and thought of all the men he knew ; 
but at last shook his head again — none would 
do. Carl had listened with eager attention to 
the conversation, his handsome face becoming 
red and pale by turns. At this point he sud- 
denly rose and approached Dietrich von 
Falkenberg. 

Herr Commandant,” he said, I do not 
know whether I am wise and prudent enough 
for a spy, but in good will, in courage and in 
faithfulness I do not think I am wanting. 
Trust me, and I will brave any peril to bring 
you the information you desire.” 

Falkenberg scanned the youth from head 
to foot, and nodded complacently. 

“ Who is he ?” he asked of Herr Sparnagel. 

“ My adopted son,” replied the latter, 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 47 

quickly. He is thoroughly good and brave, 
but I cannot consent that he should be ex- 
posed to such dangers.” 

“ I do not think the danger will be so very 
great,” pleaded Carl. “Who will notice a 
young, insignificant boy like me? I can 
slip around anywhere. Indeed, I have al- 
ready thought of the dress and character that 
I will assume.” 

“ And what may they be ?” asked Falken- 
berg. 

“ Well, I will dress like a peasant boy, and 
drive a donkey-cart,” answered Carl. “ Then 
I will try and get into Tilly’s camp, and if any 
one questions me, I will say — what is true — 
that I have lost my home and my parents 
through the war, and that I am getting my 
living by a small trade in wine and provisions. 
I do not think I shall get into any difficulty.” 

“Your idea is good,” said Falkenberg. 
“ If you are as faithful and discreet as you 


48 


THE IRON AGE. 


seem intelligent, I can find no better messen- 
ger. I will procure for you clothing, donkey, 
wagon, wine and provisions, and if you return 
with the information I need, you shall receive 
the promised reward.” 

‘*Oh, please do not speak of that, Herr 
Commandant !” entreated Carl. “ I do not 
risk my life for money, but for love of my 
kind adopted parents, who have taken me to 
their home and to their hearts. I am glad, 
too, to be able to serve you, in being useful 
to the city and fortress. Let me go, sir ! I 
will do my best, indeed I will ; and even if I 
should lose my life, what will it matter? 
Whether I, a poor boy, am in the world or 
not is of very little consequence 1” 

“ No, Carl, I will not let you go !” inter- 
rupted Herr Sparnagel. “You are a mere 
child in years and experience, and you do not 
know what peril you would incur, and I, your 
adopted father, dare not allow you to rush 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 49 

blindly into such danger. Remain at home, 
I command you !” 

“ My good, my dear friend, my father, you 
will not grieve me so deeply! You have 
saved my life, and oh how much I am in- 
debted to you and yours I Think, sir, what 
happiness it would be for me to aid in secur- 
ing the safety of my dear adopted mother! 
I know God will be with me and protect me, 
for he never forsakes those who walk in the 
right way ! Let me go, then, and do not be 
afraid for me, for the Lord will be with me 
wherever I may go !” 

Dietrich von Falkenberg warmly seconded 
Carl’s entreaties, and with sound arguments, 
until at last Herr Sparnagel was constrained 
to yield. ^ " 

“Go, then, with God’s blessing!” he said 
to the generous boy. “Our love and our 
prayers will follow you everywhere ! When 

must he go, Herr Commandant ?” 

5 D 


50 


THE IRON AGE. 


*‘The sooner the better/’ replied Falken- 
berg. “ Every hour is of importance. The 
little outfit he will need can be easily pro- 
vided for him. He can go very early to- 
morrow morning, and if you do not object, I 
will take him home with me to-night.” 

It’ being settled that Carl should go, Herr 
von Falkenberg easily overcame all objections 
to this proposition ; the youth himself joy- 
fully expressing his willingness to follow him. 
He took leave of his adopted pn rents and his 
little sister Elizabeth. Frau Sparnagel em- 
braced and kissed him with the tenderness of 
a mother. 

“You are a good son; your trust in the 
Saviour is well grounded,” she said, earnestly. 
“ He will never forsake you !” 

Herr Sparnagel pressed his hand warmly. 

“ The Lord keep you !” he said, solemnly. 
“ Whatever be your lot, our love will be with 
you as long as we have life !” 


TRUE GRATITUDE. 51 

Carl then embraced and kissed little Eliza- 
beth, and with one last, loving look at the 
beloved family, he tore himself away, and 
accompanied the commandant through the 
dark, silent streets to his quarters 

“ I thank thee, O God !” he prayed, before 
he lay down for a few hours’ sleep — I thank 
thee that thou hast permitted me to prove 
my love and gratitude to the dear friends 
thou hast given me ! I go forth under thy 
care, my Lord and my God! If thou art 
with me, of what shall I be afraid ? Guide 
and protect me in this dangerous enterprise, 
for the sake of thy dear Son, Jesus Christ !” 





III. 

THE YOUNG SPY 

“ Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I 
deliver himP 

' I 'WILIGHT was still struggling with the 
shades of night when a young peasant 
lad passed through the north-eastern gate of 
Magdeburg, and was there challenged by a 
sentinel. He was walking beside his little 
cart, which had a canvas cover and was 
drawn by a stout donkey. The youth, who 
was clothed in the usual peasant’s dress of 
coarse cloth, made no answer to the sentinel, 
and the latter was about to give him a lesson 
in military etiquette with his leveled gun, 

when a tall man, wrapped in a long cloak, 
62 



THE YOUNG SPY. 53 

approached him and threw back the cloak a 
little, so as to show the Swedish uniform of 
blue and yellow ; the sentinel also caught a 
glimpse of some rich gold embroidery, and 
immediately lowering his weapon, stood re- 
spectfully before the officer. 

Do you know me ?” inquired the latter. 

** At your, service, Herr Commandant von 
Falkenberg !” 

Well, now open the gate and let this 
young man pass out.” 

The soldier obeyed, and Carl — our readers 
will already have recognized him in his peas- 
ant’s dress — drove his donkey out of the 
gate. Falkenberg accompanied him; it was 
soon evident that this was necessary, for the 
country lad, with his wagon, was challenged 
at several other points, and only allowed to 
pass on at the express command of his 
guide. At length they reached the last out- 
posts of the fortress, the last challenge was 

5* 


54 the iron age. 

given and answered, and here Falkenberg 
took leave of his spy. 

The Almighty protect you, my boy !” he 
said, earnestly, and with a cordial pressure of 
the youth’s hand. “ I trust you in full faith 
to his care. He can deliver you from the 
greatest of dangers. Only do not be too 
daring ; never forget to be prudent.” 

“ I will do my best to obey your directions, 
sir,” answered Carl. “ I am not afraid ; still 
I will be cautious, so that I may return to 
you in safety. I well know that my going 
will be useless unless I do. Farewell, then, 
sir! I beg you, greet my dear adopted 
father and mother for me, and my little sister 
Elizabeth. Now forward, my little gray ; we 
have a long road before us to-day 1” 

One last parting salute, and the little wagon 
rolled briskly away along the high-road. 
Carl was once more alone, far from all whom 
he loved, dependent upon his own discretion 


THE YOUNG SPY. 


55 


and watchfulness. Yet he felt neither lonely, 
despondent nor forsaken. He knew that his 
benefactors were thinking of him and praying 
for him, and his heart was full of a just and 
noble pride that he had been counted worthy 
to be entrusted with so important a mission. 

So he went cheerfully on his way, and 
several days passed before anything particular 
happened to him. He stopped at night in 
little villages along the road, and if any one 
wondered that such a youth should be wan- 
dering alone through the country, he re- 
counted his little history, which was readily 
credited, as such misfortunes were not un- 
usual in those times of war and bloodshed. 
All sympathized with him, and lodged him 
as cheaply as they could afford. Day after 
day he went on, still in the direction of 
Frankfort-on-the-Oder, near which place he 
- knew he must fall in with Tilly’s army. 

Indeed, the farther he went the more ac- 


$6 THE IRON AGE. 

curate information he received as to the posi- 
tion of the field-marshal’s camp; and one 
evening, just at dusk, on entering a little 
town where he proposed to remain all night, 
he met, in the public-room of the inn, a num- 
ber of soldiers of the imperial army, whose 
uniform showed them to belong to Pappen- 
heim’s cuirassiers. They were seated around 
a great oaken table, eating and drinking, and 
making themselves exceedingly merry and 
very much at home. An officer of the 
guards, with a large beard and a brown 
visage, all seamed and scarred, was leading 
the conversation, and relating to his younger 
companions some experiences of his early 
campaigns in Bohemia, where he had under- 
gone much hardship and seen many a bloody 
contest and thrilling adventure. 

Carl did not hesitate to enter the room. 
On the contrary, he went fearlessly in and 
sat down near the table at which the soldiers 


THE YOUNG SPY. 57 

were regaling themselves. No one observed 
him except the veteran, whose sharp eye, 
glancing around, fell upon the new-comer, 
and rested with penetrating gaze on his face. 
He broke off his story and beckoned to Carl 
to come nearer. The latter instantly obeyed, 
knowing well that a calm, fearless demeanor 
would be his best protection.. 

“ Whom have we here ?” said the old 
officer, in a gruff though not exactly un- 
friendly tone, after examining Carl from head 
to foot — a scrutiny which the brave lad en- 
dured without the slightest sign of confusion. 
“ Where are you going, boy ?” 

Carl told his little story, describing the 
destruction of his home, and finished by say- 
ing quite frankly that he desired to join him- 
self to the imperial army as sutler. The old 
captain appeared satisfied by the account 
given in so simple and straightforward a 
manner ; at least, he relaxed the severity of 


58 THE IRON AGE. 

his weather-beaten countenance, and slapped 
Carl on the shoulder in a very friendly man- 
ner. 

“Yes, just so! The Fury of War does 
not stroke one with velvet paws !” he said, 
almost compassionately. “ Fire and Sword 
are her wild companions ; Misery and Poverty 
her followers ! Drink, boys, and forget what 
we cannot alter ! You are a wise lad to come 
to the army, for in such an iron age the sol- 
dier’s life is the only happy one. When you 
are older and stronger you can swear alle- 
giance to the flag; then Fortune will favor 
you ; perhaps she will be gracious enough to 
make you an officer. Better be the hammer 
than the anvil 1 The soldier is the hammer 
now, and good, stout blows are the share of 
the townsman and the peasant ; they have to 
be the anvil 1 Drink, my son 1” 

“To your health, your worship the cap- 
tain 1” said Carl, touching the offered mug to 


THE YOUNG SPY. 


59 


his lips. Then he bowed in acknowledg- 
ment and quietly withdrew to another part of 
the room, where no one paid any further 
attention to him. 

In spite of the trial so successfully under- 
gone, his heart beat somewhat faster than 
usual, for he was well aware what would be 
his fate if the least suspicion should be 
aroused. Yet he had no idea of leaving the 
room, for he justly thought that he might 
glean useful information from the soldiers’ 
conversation. He therefore sat quiet in his 
corner, listening to every word that was 
uttered at the table. 

His expectations were but partially grati- 
fied ; he learned nothing more than that Tilly 
really intended to besiege Magdeburg with 
all the forces he could muster, and as early 
as possible, in order to bring the siege to a 
speedy termination. 

There will be plenty of booty,” remarked 


6o 


THE IRON AGE. 


the old captain. “That nest of heretics is 
the richest town in Germany, and our grim 
old corporal, Tilly, has vowed not to leave 
one stone of it upon another.” 

“Yes, after we take it,” said another. “It 
is a strong place, and many a man may break 
his skull against its stone walls before we get 
into it. Who knows whether we may not 
have to march away from it again without 
accomplishing anything, as we did six weeks 
ago?” 

“ Oho ! that shows how little you know of 
Tilly, comrade !” replied the captain, stroking 
his long gray beard. “What he has sworn 
he performs ! Magdeburg must be ours, if 
the devil himself defend it against us. The 
man who has conquered in a hundred battles 
is not to be frightened by a few miserable 
walls and ditches. In fourteen days, at the 
latest, we will be there ; then the city will be 
surrounded on all sides, batteries planted. 


THE YOUNG SPY. 


6l 


breaches made in the walls, and at last — 
hurrah ! — everything stormed, everything 
overthrown that stands in our way ! then fire 
in the houses, death, sword, pillage ! In all 
my life I have never had such a day as I look 
for then ; no, never since I first drew a sword ! 
Hurrah, I say! the place is as good as our 

own, for Tilly wills it, and what he wills must 

% 

come to pass 

Hurrah I” echoed all around the table, 
glasses rang, and a scene of wild confusion 
ensued, during which scarcely any connected 
words were uttered. The wine heightened 
the excitement of these not very steady heads, 
and Carl judged best to slip out and estab- 
lish himself for the night upon some bundles 
of hay in the stable, where he had placed his 
cart and donkey upon his arrival at the inn. 
Even here he still heard the boisterous ca- 
rousal of the drunken soldiers, and it was long 
before he slept. Resting his head upon his 


62 


THE IRON AGE. 


arm, he lay with open eyes, deliberating what 
he should do next. Thus much he knew 

V 

with certainty, that Magdeburg was indeed 
the point at which Tilly aimed, but with what 
forces he expected to reduce the city Carl 
had not been able to learn from the confused 
talk of the cuirassiers. He therefore decided 
to wait a few days longer, to go about among 
the army and try to learn something more 
definite. One thing he had ascertained, that 
Tilly’s headquarters were only about three 
miles from the village where he was, in the 
little town of Genthin, and thither, at any 
hazard, he determined to go on the next day. 

Toward midnight the noise of the cuiras- 
siers gradually died away, and at last all was 
silent. Carl fell asleep and did not awake 
until broad daylight. He was then aroused 
by the trampling of horses and the clang of 
weapons, and upon rising and looking cau- 
tiously through a hole in the stable door, he 


THE YOUNG SPY. 


63 


saw that the cuirassiers who had made merry 
the night before had just mounted their 
horses to leave. No one thought of the 
young sutler, or inquired for him. The sol- 
diers put spurs to their horses and galloped 
away in the fresh morning air, following the 
old captain in close ranks. 

“ It is well they are gone,” said Carl to 
himself. If they had caught sight of me, I 
might not have got off as easily as I did yes- 
terday evening.” 

He gave his donkey water and fodder, 
cleaned and curried him, and made prepara- 
tions for starting. He then came out of the 
stable and bade good-morning to the host, 
who was standing at his door watching the 
retiring party with a troubled look. 

“ Have they left not to return ?” asked 
Carl. 

“ I hope so, indeed !” replied the landlord. 
** Soldiers are a wild sort of gentry; I am 


64 THE IRON AGE. 

only too glad that they have contented them- 
selves with emptying my cellar and my pan- 
try, without burning the house over my head. 
Are you leaving too, my lad ?” 

'‘Yes, sir; it is getting late, and I want, if 
possible, to be at Genthin before noon.” 

“ At Genthin ? At the headquarters of the 
iron Tilly ?” exclaimed the landlord, in alarm. 

“ Well, why not said Carl, laughing. “A 
sutler must be with the army.” 

“ Yes, that’s true,” answered the host. “So 
you belong to them ?” 

“ To whom else, sir ? Would I be here if 
I belonged to any others ? ^ Now, how much 
do I owe you ?” 

“ Bah ! say nothing of that ! If I were to 
make you pay to-day, it might come into 
your head to do the same by me some other 
time. No, no, we will charge it to those 
others ! After all, you have not used any- 
thing worth speaking of” 


THE YOUNG SPY. 65 

Carl smiled at the landlord’s fear ; it was 
quite evident that, supposing him to be really 
a sutler of the imperial army, he would not 
charge Carl anything, lest he might come 
back some day and take vengeance on him. 
He was careful not to press the landlord to 
accept his money, not wishing to excite his 
suspicions, but contented himself with a cor- 
dial “ Thank you, sir !” as he drove off. 

The nearer he came to the headquarters of 
the army, the more of military life and activ- 
ity he found on the high-road. Here and 
there he met troops of cavalry and infantry, 
also some bodies of heavy artillery ; indeed, 
he was often obliged to stop and let the sol- 
diers pass him. But no one gave him any 
trouble; he was not even stopped or ques- 
tioned, and this circumstance strengthened 
his confidence that he could slip unobserved 
into the town. He approached the gate very 

courageously, and was about passing a sen- 
6 * E 


66 


THE IRON AGE. 


tinel who was stationed there, when suddenly 
he heard a loud cry of “ Halt !” and felt the 
grasp of a powerful hand upon his collar. 

Halt, young man !” cried the sentinel — a 
rough soldier. “ How dare you pass here 
without permission ?” 

“ I did not know that permission is neces- 
sary,” replied Carl, quickly overcoming his 
first alarm and recovering his self-possession. 
“Let me go, comrade! You see I am only 
a sutler.” 

“ Any one can say that 1” growled the sol- 
dier. “ To what regiment do you belong ?” 

Carl was terribly confused. What regiment 
should he name? He did not know what 
soldiers garrisoned the town, and if he should 
name a regiment belonging to any other 
.garrison, he was lost. Just at that instant, 
as the sentinel observed him with a sharp, 
suspicious look, he remembered his encounter 
of the previous evening, and said boldly : 


THE YOUNG SPY. 


67 


I belong to Pappenheim’s cuirassiers.” 
“You lie, rascal!” thundered the soldier. 
“ The Pappenheimers are not quartered here 1” 
“ But they will soon come,” answered Carl. 
“A captain of the guards, with twenty men, 
must have arrived here about an hour ago. 
I could not follow them very fast” 

“ Ah, so ; yes, I understand 1” said the sen- 
tinel, letting go Carts jacket-collar. “ Why 
did you not tell me at once ?” 

“Did you give me any chance, comrade?” 
said Carl, as if aMittle offended. “You 
stormed at me the moment you saw me, as if 
I were a spy or some such curiosity 1” 

“ Well, now, don’t be vexed 1” said the 
soldier, in a conciliating tone. “I must do 
my duty, and I had no orders to let you pass 
without knowing who you are. Go in, and 
another time take better care what you are 
about.” 

Carl was glad to get out of the difficulty so 


68 


THE IRON AGE. 


easily, and quickly drove his donkey into the 
town. Once within the gates, he was at 
liberty to seek the general’s headquarters. 
He mingled freely among the soldiers, who 
thronged the streets bearing all descriptions 
of weapons, and inquired of the first he met 
for the headquarters of the general field- 
marshal. 

“What do you want there, my little fel- 
low ?” said the soldier whom he questioned, 
with surprise. 

“ The Pappenheimers, A^ho came here about 
an hour ago,” said Carl. “ I expect to meet 
the captain near the headquarters.” 

“ Go a little farther along this street, then, 
until you come to a three-story house. 
There are two sentinels standing before it 
and a great many officers about. You cannot 
miss it.” 

“ Thank you !” said Carl, and drove on. A 
few hundred paces farther he reached the 


THE YOUNG SPY. 69 

designated house, and looked about for a 
corner in which he could tie his donkey. 
He soon found one. In a side street he saw 
an inn. Thither he led his donkey, tied him 
in the stable, and then returned to the neigh- 
borhood of Tilly’s headquarters. Here, in 
the street, several groups of officers were 
standing around, conversing quite freely, and 
Carl ventured near enough to overhear them. 
Near by the door, before which stood the two 
sentinels, were four or five officers who en- 
gaged his most particular attention. Their 
crests, their rich collars and their handsome 
weapons indicated that they were of the high- 
est ranks in the army. Carl’s daring enabled 
him to come near enough to them to hear 
almost every word they exchanged. 

“ You know certainly, then. Count Pappen- 
heim, that we are to march upon Magde- 
burg?” asked one of the gentlemen — a per- 
sonage of gigantic figure, in heavy armor, 


70 THE IRON AGE. 

having in every respect the bearing of a true 
cavalier. 

“I know it from Tilly’s own declaration, 
Count Gallas,” replied the distinguished cav- 
alry general, with impressive distinctness. 
“ Magdeburg for Frankfort-on-the-Oder, which 
the Swedish king has filched from us. You 
will hear further from Tilly; it is not for 
a day’s sport that he has invited us to ride 
with him.” 

“This is a bold undertaking,” remarked 
another officer. “ Magdeburg is strong.” 

“ But we are stronger, count !” returned 
Pappenheim, with unshaken confidence. “ The 
whole army is to move upon Magdeburg, in 
order that the blow shall be a decisive one. 
There can be no failure ; must not, will not !” 

“But Gustavus Adolphus?” said a third, 
thoughtfully. 

“Unless he can prevail upon the electors of 
Brandenburg and Saxony to open their terri- 


THE YOUNG SPY. 


71 


tories to him, Magdeburg is ours,” replied 
Pappenheim as decidedly as before. “And 
what Tilly does, he does quickly. But there 
he comes, and we shall hear more from him.” 

Not a word of this conversation had es- 
caped Carl’s ears, and now he leaned forward, 
full of curiosity to see the distinguished com- 
mander, whose fame was at that time in its 
zenith and almost unrivaled in history. A 
spare person, of medium height, simply 
dressed, a broadsword at his side and a wide- 
brimmed hat with a red plume set upon his 
head, with its closely-cut hair ; a stern coun- 
tenance, whose features betrayed not an emo- 
tion of the soul within; a rather crooked nose, 
piercing gray eyes, and thin, bloodless lips, 
surrounded by a reddish beard and moustache, 
— such was the appearance of the man whose 
reputation as a general had spread all over 
the world. 

Carl drew back ; he was afraid in the pres- 


72 THE IRON AGE. 

ence of this face, so pitiless in its expression, 
so full of the power of an unconquerable will, 
and tried to avoid the field-marshal’s pene- 
trating look. But just at this instant a strong 
hand seized him, and on turning his head he 
saw, with indescribable terror, the martial 
countenance of the captain he had met on the 
previous evening, accompanied by the sentinel 
who had challenged him at the gate about 
half an hour before. Uttering a frightened 
exclamation, he tried to free himself, but the 
old captain held him with a vise-like grasp. 

“ Oho ! you do not impose on me to-day as 
you did yesterday, you young rascal !” he 
thundered out in a voice which called the at- 
tention of all the bystanders to the group. 
Even the dreaded Tilly turned his head and 
looked sharply at the old captain and the 
young man writhing in his grasp. 

What is the matter ?” he asked, sternly. 

By your leave, Herr General Field-Mar- 






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THE YOUNG SPY. 73 

shal, a spy that has slipped into the town !” 
answered the captain of the guards. “ We 
found him listening to the generals here, who 
were talking, and I caught hold of him with- 
out any parley !” 

Tilly’s terrible gaze rested but for a moment 
upon Carl’s blanched countenance. Then, 
with freezing calmness, he carelessly said: 
“ Hang him !” as he turned his back upon the 
boy, mounted his horse, and rode slowly, 
with his generals, toward the gate. 

Carl gave himself up for lost. With a cry 
of despair, he fell to the ground. 

The poor boy had indeed little reason to 
hope for deliverance from the ignominious 
death that threatened him. Without further 
ceremony, the old captain tied his hands and 
called upon two soldiers to take him in 
charge. Then he gave the word of command, 
and his little party marched toward the gate, 
where the gallows was erected upon a little 


74 


THE IRON AGE. 


eminence. Pale and stupefied, Carl tottered 
along between the soldiers. He would have 
pleaded for mercy, but his utterance was 
choked, he could not speak ; and moreover, 
the stern countenance of the old officer for- 
bade any hope of moving him to pity. Be- 
sides, even if his compassion could have been 
excited, he was obliged to obey his general’s 
command. 

On the way to the gallows several other 
soldiers joined the party. Arrived at the 
fatal spot, Carl stood trembling, but yielding 
silently to the fate which appeared inevitable, 
and trying to collect his thoughts, so confused 
by the hurried events of this last hour, for 
one earnest prayer, in which he might commit 
his soul to the Saviour he had striven to serve, 
and on whom alone his dependence now lay. 
Suddenly a voice from among the men gath- 
ered around him was heard to exclaim : 

“ Mercy ! have mercy ! It is my poor 


THE YOUNG SPY. 75 

young master, Carl ! Herr Captain, for pity’s 
sake, let the poor boy go ! I will answer for 
him, he is no spy ! He has had enough to bear 
already !” And the soldier ran up the little 
hill, caught Carl in his arms, and embraced 
and kissed him like a brother. 

Oh, Master Carl, how came you here ?” 
he cried. “ Did you, then, escape on that 
bloody day? I was afraid that those heart- 
less wretches had butchered you with all the 
others ! I thank the Lord with all my soul 
that one, even one, of my dear master’s family 
is alive !” 

A ray of hope and joy stole into the heart 
of the unfortunate youth at this timely en- 
counter. He clung eagerly to the soldier, 
and cried : “ Save me, save me, Andreas ! 
God has sent you to my aid! Ask him, 
Herr Captain, only ask him if I did not tell 
you the truth yesterday evening ! I did not 
lie to you, indeed I did not! This is An- 


76 THE IRON AGE. 

dreas, the son of a peasant, from my home ! 
Ask him, sir, and have pity on me !” 

The captain looked, in astonishment, first 
at the youth, then at the soldier, who had 
placed himself protectingly in front of Carl, 
and stood caressing him gently. 

“Don’t be afraid, Carl,” he was saying. 
“ The captain is a kind man, who would not 
hurt any innocent person. What harm has 
the boy done, Herr Captain? Look at the 
poor young fellow ; he cannot be,very bad !” 

“ What a dilemma !” said the veteran, twist- 
ing his heavy gray moustache in the great- 
est perplexity. “Say now, Walloon, is this 
really so, that the boy is from your country?” 

“Yes, most certainly it is true, Herr Cap- 
tain!” the soldier earnestly replied. “It is 
indeed my young master, Carl. His parents, 
and all who lived in the village, were killed. 
I myself only escaped by volunteering to 
join the imperial army. This child has no 


THE YOUNG SPY. 77 

home, and it is little wonder that he is travel- 
ing about alone. What else could he do ?” 

“I am very sorry about it; sorry that I 
took the boy, and that just beside the field- 
marshal,” said the captain. ** I thought he 
was a spy, because he told the sentinel he 
belonged to us Pappenheimers. What did 
you do that for, boy ?” 

** Indeed, Herr Captain,” replied Carl, “you 
treated me so kindly yesterday that I thought 
to put myself under your protection, and 
drive my little trade with your regiment. In- 
stead of this, oh — ” 

“A miserably bad business!” growled the 
captain, very much annoyed. “ I see I was 
too fast, but it can’t be helped now ; the gen- 
eral has commanded, and I must obey I” 

“But, Herr Captain, this would be mur- 
der!” cried the honest Andreas. “You 
surely know the boy is innocent ; do let him 
go ! Such a child as this can do no harm !” 


78 


THE IRON AGE. 


The captain seemed irresolute. Carl looked 
imploringly into his face. 

“ Yes, and then, if the general hears of it, I 
shall be hanged myself!” said the veteran, 
still wavering. 

“Who is to tell him, Herr Captain?” 
urged Andreas. “What do you say, com- 
rades ?” 

“ No, no,” cried several voices, “ we will 
not 1 Let the boy go, Herr Captain, since he 
is innocent! It would be a pity; perhaps 
he will make a good soldier one of these 
days !” 

All present had gradually collected upon 
the little hill in a group around the old officer 
and his captive. The veteran, whose resolu- 
tion still wavered, consulted with some of the 
soldiers. Andreas took advantage of his 
momentary inattention. 

“ Go, Carl, quickly !” he whispered to the 
boy. “ No one will detain you or follow you. 


THE YOUNG SPY. 79 

My horse is there, at the foot of the hill; 
jump on him and ride off; I will soon get 
another. God protect you — run !” 

Carl gave him one grateful look, pressed 
his hand, and slipped quickly through the 
circle of soldiers, none offering to stop him, 
or even appearing to notice him. He reached 
the foot of the hill in safety, found a saddled 
horse, his bridle thrown loosely around the 
trunk of a tree, mounted in all haste and gal- 
loped off 

“It can’t be helped!” the old captain was 
saying just at that instant. “ He must be 
hanged; it is the general’s orders. Come, 
boy, we will make it as easy for you as we 
can. I am very sorry, but there is no help 
for it I Come, now, don’t make a fuss about 
it ; you make it only the more disagreeable 
for us 1” 

He turned to find Carl, but of course did 
not see him. 


So 


THE IRON AGE. 


“ Eh ! where is the fellow ? where is he ?" 
he exclaimed, in surprise. “You have let 
him slip, you men ! You shall — “ 

“ Why, he is really gone !” said Andreas, 
putting on a look of amazement. 

“ He must have slipped away while we 
were talking !“ cried several of the soldiers at 
once. 

“Yes, and very quietly indeed!” said An- 
dreas. “ Let it be so, Herr Captain ; it is 
better than that an innocent lad should be 
hanged, and you cannot help seeing he is 
innocent I” 

“ Yes, I dare say he is ; but it is a terribly 
bad business, for all that !” growled the old 
soldier, half vexed, yet evidently not alto- 
gether displeased at the boy’s escape. “ Bqt 
if Tilly hears of it, I am a dead man 1 The 
old corporal is no joker I” 

“And who will report it to him, Herr Cap- 
tain ?” said Andreas, again. “ Certainly not 


THE YOUNG SPY. 


8l 


we who are here, for we should all be hanged 
too r 

“Just so, just so!” said the veteran, now 
quite relieved, and glad to be rid of the 
dilemma. “ I see, you scamps I you have 
been playing a trick behind my back I If 
the old corporal does not hear of it, well ; I 
shall be very glad the boy made his escape. 
Such a young fellow! Well, good luck to 
him ! But you, you fellows ! if one of you 
breathes a syllable of this story, then you 
shall all hang together, or I am no captain of 
the guards* in the emperor’s service !” 

He looked around on the men, as he said 
this, with a very grim expression, and then 
marched gravely down the hill, twirling his 
gray moustache. The men followed him, 
laughing and chatting, but nothing more was 
said about Carl. All of them knew very well 
the grave necessity there was for silence as to 
his escape. 

F 


82 


THE IRON AGE. 


In the mean time, with a heart overflowing 
with gratitude to God for his deliverance, 
Carl was riding off at full speed, until at last 
his horse, panting and sweating, and unable 
to gallop any farther, broke into a short trot. 
The poor animal’s strength seemed exhausted, 
and Carl, after looking carefully in every 
direction and seeing no pursuer, rode toward 
a little grove, at no great distance, to give 
himself and the horse an hour’s rest. To hi's 
surprise and satisfaction, he found in the 
copse a wood-cutter’s cottage, from the chim- 
ney of which rose a light blue cloud of smoke. 
The cottage must, then, be inhabited, and 
Carl hoped to find food and drink there, as 
well as rest. Before the door of the cottage 
he alighted, tied his horse and went in. No 
one was there but a little old woman, who 
was standing before the fire stirring the con- 
tents of an earthen vessel with a wooden 
spoon. 


THE YOUNG SPY. 83 

“ God’s greeting to you, Hebe Frau F said 
Carl to her. “ If you can spare me a plate of 
your soup, I will be very thankful !” 

“ And why not, my son ?” returned the 
woman, kindly. “You will be very welcome 
to it. Come, sit down. The soup will soon 
be ready, for I expect my husband in a few 
minutes, and he always comes in hungry 
enough ! Yes, wood cutting is no light work, 
especially for a man who is no longer young ; 
but it gives a hearty appetite ; I know that by 
my old man !“ 

“ I believe it, mother !“ said Carl. “ I am 
very glad I happened in here just at the right 
time. I will look after my horse a little, now, 
and find him something to eat. The poor 
animal must be hungry and thirsty enough 
by this time.” 

“ Well, now, it just happens right, young 
man,” said the kind old woman. “Look 
into the little cupboard behind the door, and 


84 


THE IRON AGE. 


you will find a bag of oats that a wagoner 
left here the other day by mistake. It will 
do no harm if you give your horse some.” 

“ I think not !” said Carl, joyfully, going to 
the cupboard. ”The horse will like them. 
I am sure he has earned a good supper.” 

The noble animal whinnied with pleasure 
at the sight of the golden oats, and ate them 
eagerly when Carl had loosened the curb 
and removed his bit. Then the boy brought 
a pail of water for him from a neighboring 
spring, and not until the horse was satisfied 
did Carl think of his own wants. He was 
very hungry, for it was almost night, and he 
had eaten nothing all day. Fortunately, he 
was not obliged to wait long, for at sunset 
came the old wood-cutter, and welcomed him 
as heartily as his wife had done. 

The woman covered the table with a clean 
rush mat, and placed upon it a large bowl of 
soup, with stewed rabbit, to which both the 


THE YOUNG SPY. 


8s 


wood-cutter and his young guest did ample 
justice. After supper, Carl would have 
mounted his horse to ride farther, but the old 
couple would not allow it. The animal was 
secured in an empty wood-shed, and the kind 
little old woman prepared a comfortable bed 
of hay and moss for Carl, that he might rest 
all night in the cottage. Slumber soon closed 
his eyelids, but not until he had thanked his 
heavenly Father, who had delivered him that 
day from a shameful death in a manner so 

wonderful. 

8 



/ had fainted^ unless I had believed to see the goodness of 
the Lord in the land of the livingy 



ARL, having obtained all the information 


that Herr von Falkenberg desired, was 
eager to return to Magdeburg, to report to 
the commandant. He therefore mounted his 
horse at a very early hour on the following 
morning, thanked his kind entertainers and 
set out. He considered himself favored in 
having so good and strong a horse, for with 
his donkey he could have traveled but very 
slowly, while the horse performed the journey 
quickly and easily. Without any mishaps, 
and without meeting any more of the imperial 


THE SIEGE. 87 

troops, he reached the fortress by the evening 
of the second day, and passed draw-bridges 
and gates unmolested by the sentinels. He 
stopped at the quarters of Falkenberg, and 
gave his horse into the charge of a boy who 
was loitering hear the door, telling him to 
take it to the house of Herr Sparnagel, on 
the Broad Way. He then ascended the steps 
of the commandant, and was met by that 
gentleman in his antechamber with a most 
cordial greeting. 

Thanks be to God, my dear boy, that you 
have returned safe and well !” he said, press- 
ing Carl’s hand. I have been very anxious 
about you, your errand was one of so great 
danger. What intelligence have you to give 
me ? Certain news, I do not doubt, if not 
good. I feared as much ! But come into my 
private room ; we can talk there without dan- 
ger of being overheard.” 

He led Carl into his cabinet, made him sit 


88 


THE IRON AGE. 


down, closed the door, and then asked him 
to proceed with his story. During its recital 
he walked up and down the room with long 
strides, without interrupting the boy by a 
single syllable. But the wrinkles of thought 
upon his forehead grew deeper and more 
stern as Carl continued, and his features as- 
sumed an expression of the greatest anxiety. 

“ It is even as I had supposed,” he said, at 
last. “ Tilly’s movements are rapid, and he 
will be before our gates sooner than we can 
imagine. We have not been idle during your 
absence. We have done all that is possible 
to strengthen the garrison, but, unfortunately, 
without much result. Our forces scarcely 
amount to three thousand, and with so few it 
is impossible to defend all the out-works. 
We must concentrate our forces in the cen- 
tral fortress, and I fear we shall not be able 
to hold out very long, even there, against 
their superior numbers. I rely a great deal 


THE SIEGE. 


89 


Upon the able-bodied citizens. Magdeburg is 
by no means deficient in courageous men, and 
when, as now, life, home and family are at 
stake, I know they will gladly share every 
danger and hardship with the soldiers. Our 
situation is very critical, and calls for the most 
decided measures. We shall be obliged to 
cut down the bridge over the Elbe and burn 
the suburbs !” 

But that is terrible, sir !” exclaimed Carl, 
shuddering. “ Hundreds will be brought to 
distress and poverty !” 

The less must be sacrificed to save the 
greater!” returned Falkenberg, sadly, but 
with unshaken firmness. “ The poor people 
who lose their home in the suburbs must be 
lodged among the citizens within the fortress. 
It is all that can be done to save their lives ; 
the enemy will be less merciful to them than 
we. But time presses; leave me now, my 
boy. Go to Herr Sparnagel, and think over 

8 » 


90 THE IRON AGE. 

the reward that I shall give you. I must now 
call a council of war, and — Well, its results 
will soon enough be known, and cause terrible 
grief and amazement. Good-night, my dear 
Carl ; as I have said, think what reward you 
will ask of me. You have well deserved 
one.” 

“ I know already what I would ask !” an- 
swered Carl, quickly. 

What is it?” 

“ Let me fight at your side, sir — if, indeed, 
we must fight! I will not be afraid, and I 
will always try to do my duty.” 

Let it be so !” said Falkenberg, after a 
few moments’ reflection. “You are very 
young, it is true, but you have a brave heart, 
and we have need of every arm to ward off 
the fearful blow that Tilly meditates. But 
now go. Herr Sparnagel must be impatiently 
waiting for you. To-morrow we shall meet 
again 1” 


THE SIEGE. 


91 


Carl was soon in the arms of his adopted 
parents, who received him joyfully and thank- 
fully. The only drawback to their pleasure — 
a sad one, indeed — was the news that Carl 
brought, which filled them with anxiety for 
the fate of their home. 

‘'Well, the Lord’s will be done!”’ said 
Herr Sparnagel. “ All my preparations are 
made. My valuables are hidden in the cellar, 
well enough concealed, I think, to save them 
from the grasp of Croats and Pandours, even 
if matters come to the worst. But I cannot 
give up the hope that we may escape the 
worst. Gustavus Adolphus is not far from 
us, and we will try to quit ourselves like men, 
and be strong. We must have courage; 
nothing is yet lost, and all may be saved. 
Falkenberg is an experienced soldier. I hope 
much from his knowledge, his prudence and 
decision.” 

The commandant was not, indeed, deficient 


92 


THE IRON AGE. 


in any of these necessary qualities, and he 
did all he could to prevent the fall of Magde- 
burg. This cost sacrifices, but they were 
promptly made. On the day after Carl’s re- 
turn, the residents of the Neustadt and Suden- 
dorf suburbs received notice to remove all of 
their property that they could into the citadel, 
because the houses must be burned down. 
It was a severe measure, but the general 
good, and the safety of the citizens of the 
suburbs themselves, demanded it. The un- 
fortunate people therefore obeyed, though 
with bitter tears. All that could be saved 
was conveyed into the fortress, and the citi- 
zens of Magdeburg hastened to offer to their 
unfortunate neighbors free lodgings in their 
own houses. All those who did not prefer to 
seek greater safety by flight were entertained 
as comfortably as possible, and showed them- 
selves anxious to share the good or evil for- 
tunes of their fellow-townsmen. Firebrands 


THE SIEGE. 93 

were thrown into the doors of the deserted 
dwellings, and after a few hours they were 
reduced to ruins. Many sad eyes gazed upon 
the devouring flames ; many tears fell ; but 
many an eye also shone with determination 
to defend to the last what still remained to 
them, in the hope of one day enjoying their 
homes again, rebuilt and restored to their 
former comfort. 

Falkenberg took immediate advantage of 
the good disposition that prevailed among the 
Magdeburgers. He distributed weapons 
among them, which they soon learned to use 
as skillfully as the soldiers themselves, with 
whom they daily shared guard, drill and other 
military duty. Herr Sparnagel, of course, 
was among these brave defenders of the 
threatened city. Falkenberg had entrusted to 
his command a company of the best citizens 
— men whose moral courage could be de- 
pended upon — with whom he exercised in 


94 the iron age. 

the use of arms, early and late, in order to be 
fully prepared for service in time of need. 

Carl was now scarcely ever at home during 
the day, seldom even at night, for his duty 
called him to Falkenberg at an early hour in 
the morning. The commandant employed 
the youth as his adjutant, and soon learned 
to place the greatest confidence in his skill, 
activity and discretion. Now on horseback, 
now on foot, Carl hurried, never weary, 
through the streets, or among the posts sur- 
rounding the city ; here performing a commis- 
sion, there bearing a command, or receiving 
information for the general. After a few days 
the boy became known everywhere ; on the 
walls, at the out-works, and wherever else he 
was seen, the old, bearded soldiers nodded 
kindly to him, or exchanged friendly words 
with him. His pleasant face, his eye, at once 
fearless and gentle in its expression, his 
modest but resolute bearing, won him the re- 


THE SIEGE. 95 

gard of all, and Herr Sparnagel had indeed 
reason to be proud of his adopted child, who, 
in serving the commandant so faithfully, was 
making himself very useful to the city. 

When Carl had no particular commission 
from Falkenberg to execute, he liked to ride 
his swift, strong horse outside of the city 
walls, in order to gather whatever intelligence 
might be useful to his general. P'rom one 
such little excursion he returned at a gallop- 
ing pace to the fortress, to make an import- 
ant announcement. 

‘‘What is the matter?” inquired Falken- 
berg, as the boy appeared before him covered 
with dust, heated and almost breathless with 
excitement. 

“The enemy has come!” replied Carl. 
“ Pappenheim is near Schonebeck, across the 
Elbe, and the terrible Tilly is approaching 
the city on the other side I We will be sur- 
rounded in a few hours I” 


96 


THE IRON AGE. 


Well, then, we are prepared for the enemy, 
and if he attempts to storm us we will drive 
him back,” was Falkenberg’s calm reply. 
“ Now is the time ! May God be with us, 
and not suffer us to fall into the hands of our 
foes ! But you are pale, Carl, and bleeding, 
too ! What has happened to you ?” 

*‘0h, nothing, sir, only the ball from a 
Walloon’s gun, that grazed me,” answered 
Carl. “ I wanted to observe the movements 
of the troops across the Elbe more closely, 
and ventured a little too far. All at once I 
found myself nearly surrounded by a small 
party of Walloons, and had just time to turn 
my horse and put spurs to him. The good 
creature flew like a bird, but the Walloons 
shot after me, and a ball grazed my left 
shoulder. It is nothing; it will be quite 
healed by morning. I feel now neither wear- 
iness nor pain. Give me your commands, 
sir; nothing will do me so much good as ta 


THE SIEGE. 97 

be of service to you. I am as fresh as if I 
had done nothing to-day.” 

Falkenberg ascertained that the wound 
was really a trifling one, and that the boy’s 
paleness was caused only by his excitement, 
and laying his hand kindly upon the boy’s 
shoulder, said : “You are a brave fellow ! I 
like your courage, but don’t be rash ; remem- 
ber I need you in this trying time. And now, 
since you are quite strong, go quickly to the 
out-works, which are still manned. Give my 
orders that the troops make only a weak de- 
fence, for we do not intend to hold the out- 
works ; the lives of my soldiers are too pre- 
cious. After the first attack, the garrisons are 
to fall back into the fortress. I wish only to 
try whether Tilly is in earnest. Make haste, 
my son ! I will go to the ramparts and give 
the necessary orders myself, and there you 
will find me.” 

Carl hurried off, and galloped to the out- 

9 G 


98 THE IRON AGE. 

works to deliver the general’s command. All 
possibility of a surprise being thus prevented, 
he went to the ramparts, where he found the 
commandant, surrounded by a number of 
other officers, trying to observe the move- 
ments of the approaching enemy. Very 
little could be seen, for the night of that 
thirtieth of March came on suddenly and 
shrouded the whole broad plain in thick 
darkness. 

“They will scarcely undertake anything 
further to-night,” said Falkenberg, “ for it is 
already dark, and their troops must be fa- 
tigued. We must be watchful, however, and 
neglect no precaution. Gentlemen, you will 
see that the sentinels are on the alert. I will 
go the rounds myself several times in the 
course of the night. We dare not forget for 
an instant that we have a fearful opponent 
before us.” 

The news that the enemy had come had 


THE SIEGE. 99 

quickly spread through the city, and a count- 

m 

less number of people crowded to the ram- 
parts, to see, if possible, the approaching 
army. But few showed any signs of anxiety 
or consternation. Far the greater number 
displayed a cheerful courage and a firm con- 
fidence that were most gratifying to the com- 
mandant. Many expressions reached his 
ear which not only gave him great pleas- 
ure, but also served to support his own 
courage. 

While Falkenberg was engaged in conver- 
sation with a group of the citizens, one of 
them suddenly exclaimed : 

“ Look, look ! They are burning down the 
villages !” 

In several directions at once, indeed, the 
red flames shot up and covered the heavens 
with a fiery glow. The crowd watched the 
terrific scene in silence and with saddened 
countenances. 


100 


THE IRON AGE. 


*^And we shall fare no better than those 
farmers ! we shall have red hens set upon our 
roofs too!” said a smith, after a little while, 
with grim humor, but in a deep, earnest voice. 
‘‘Well, then, we can but defend ourselves 
with all our might say I !” 

“ And I too !” rejoined Falkenberg, impres- 
sively. “ There is no hope of leniency from 
our enemy, good people. We can but hold 
out to the last man ; yes, to the last breath of 
life !” 

“We must; we cried many voices; 

and every heart beat higher with courageous 
resolution, since all had seen, in the fate of 
the burning villages, what awaited their own 
homes. 

The remainder of the night passed quietly. 
But on the next morning, soon after daybreak, 
the first discharge of the cannons from with- 
out announced that the siege was really 
begun. Falkenberg, attended by Carl, hast- 


THE SIEGE. 


lOI 


ened to the scene of the conflict. The out- 
works of the fortress were bombarded, and 
the large force brought to bear upon them 
made it evident that it would be quite impos- 
sible to hold them ; nor was it important to 
do so. Falkenberg therefore sent orders that 
the garrison stationed there should imme- 
diately withdraw into the fortress. The re- 
treat was made in the best possible order; 
artillery, caissons, baggage, everything was 
brought safely in. When the enemy stormed 
the works, they found them empty, save a 
number of dead bodies — the soldiers who had 
fallen victims to the first heavy fire. There 
had not been time to bury them, and these 
were the first sad and bloody trophies that 
fell to Tilly’s share in the siege of Magde- 
burg. 

Some hours later the city was entirely sur- 
rounded, and soon the hastily-erected batter- 
ies of the imperial army poured a hail of balls 

9 » 


102 


THE IRON AGE. 


against the ramparts. Their fire was returned 
with resolution, and the messengers of death 
flew backward and forward, while the thunder 
of the cannon was incessant and deafening. 
The brave citizens indeed showed their de- 
termination not to let their homes and their 
lives be sacrificed to their enemies without 
making a vigorous resistance. 

Falkenberg had taken care to supply the 
city with large quantities of provisions, that, 
if necessary, they might be able to endure a 
long siege without danger of starvation. His 
regulations were in all points faithfully obeyed, 
and in spite of the constant bombardment 
from the batteries that surrounded the city, 
its ramparts suffered very little, so that what- 
ever damage was done by day was easily re- 
paired at night. Hot shot was poured in, in 
order, if possible, to set the houses on fire ; 
but this, too, the commandant had foreseen, 
and made arrangements so excellent that not 


THE SIEGE. 103 

a single serious conflagration from this cause 
took place during the siege. 

Everywhere, Falkenberg was the life of the 
defence. Wherever he was needed there he 
was found ; wherever danger threatened 
thither he hastened ; it seemed almost as 
though he were endowed with the power of 
being in every place at once. His example 
encouraged the rest and incited them to like 
zeal. 

^^What!” said the honest citizens to one 
another. He is a foreigner, and yet he 
labors day and night for our defence ! What 
a shame it would be for us if we should do 
less for ourselves !” 

Not all, however, shared these feelings. 
Many of the wealthiest and most prominent 
citizens shared neither the perils nor the exer- 
tions of their fellow-townsmen, but sat at 
home in indolence and safety, while the latter 
labored and exposed their lives on the ram- 


104 THE IRON AGE. 

parts, or worked at night to repair the injuries 
sustained through the day. Of course, the 
poorer men at last murmured at being obliged 
to bear such burdens, and again it was Falken- 
berg who quieted their complaints and ap- 
peased their ill-humor. 

Look at Herr Sparnagel, and others like 
him,” said the commandant. “ Do they en- 
dure any less than the poorest among you ? 
And as for the others, their cowardice de- 
serves your contempt, not your anger !” 

“ It is true,” the men afterward said among 
themselves ; “ there are rich men who do not 
neglect their duty, and for their sake we must 
forget the unworthiness of the rest. Let us 
work and watch and fight! The day will 
come when the enemy 7fiust, retreat from be- 
fore our walls 1” 

This expectation animated the courage of 
all the brave, devoted band;, the more, be- 
cause it was, indeed, founded on probability. 


THE SIEGE. 


105 


Gustavus Adolphus was approaching — was 
already so near that a march of a few days 
would bring him to the deliverance of the 
fortress. Tilly was well aware of this, how- 
ever, and was making desperate efforts to 
reduce Magdeburg before the arrival of the 
Swedish king. His batteries kept up an in- 
cessant fire ; at last he succeeded so far as to 
weaken one of the largest towers to such an 
extent that it threatened to fall. If, now, he 
could make it fall into the moat, so as to fill 
it up with its ruins, a breach would be opened 
by which a storming-party would be enabled 
to enter the city, almost certain of success. 
Tilly therefore brought additional artillery to 
bear upon the tower. The besieged watched 
with growing anxiety the effects of the balls ; 
the tower rocked at every instant more per- 
ceptibly upon its foundation. Quicker and 
faster beat each anxious heart. Falkenberg 
himself hastened to the spot, and sent message 


io6 


THE IRON AGE. 


after message to summon his best troops 
around him, in order to defend the breach. 

All stood in fearful, breathless expectation. 
Suddenly the tower shook, then swayed sev- 
eral times, first on one side, then on the other, 
and finally, instead of falling into the ditch, 
as the besiegers had calculated it would do, 
rested sidewise against the powerful rampart 
of the fortress. Such a shout of joy was 
raised within the city as drowned the thunder 
of the cannon. 

“The hand of God was in that!” said 
Falkenberg to Carl, with a long sigh of relief. 

Tilly and his generals, who had been watch- 
ing the operations of their heavy batteries 
from the other side of the moat, now retired, 
full of wrath, from the scene of their discom- 
fiture. 

On the next day a herald from the enemy’s 
camp made his appearance, asked admittance 
to the fortress, and, at his own request, was 


THE SIEGE. 


107 


led before the assembled magistracy, Falken- 
berg having a seat in that body as command- 
ant. The envoy presented a demand from 
Tilly for the surrender of the city, under 
reasonable conditions. 

“ Go !” replied Falkenberg. “ Go and tell 
your master that we would rather die than 
surrender !” 

The herald was obliged to retire with this 
unsatisfactory message, and the people of 
Magdeburg took fresh courage, justly consid- 
ering this summons to capitulate as an indi- 
cation of Tilly’s weakness. 

“ We must show those gentlemen out there 
that our resolution is stronger than they 
think,” said Falkenberg, after the departure 
of the messenger. They must be taught 
that they cannot make us waver for a single 
instant — that ‘ a mighty fortress is our God, 
a trusty shield and weapon.’ ” 

He gave Carl some private directions, and 


THE IRON AGE. 


I08 

in the course of an hour a council of war had 
assembled at his headquarters. 

“Tilly has summoned us to surrender,” 
said Falkenberg to the officers. “ He doubt- 
less supposes that he has intimidated us ; let 
us show him that he is mistaken. An ener- 
getic, well-conducted sally at night will be 
sufficiently convincing.” 

All the officers assented, and the council 
soon broke up. That night, as the hour of 
midnight approached, battalion after battalion 
marched through the silent streets of Magde- 
burg to the different sally-ports, where they 
received the commandant’s final orders. 

“ Silently and steadily forward !” were Fal- 
kenberg’s directions. “ Not a shot until the 
word of command is given. Then storm the 
batteries, drive off the gunners, spike the 
guns and fire the tents. During the con- 
fusion that follows it will be easy for us to 
make our escape back to the fortress. Now 


THE SIEGE. 109 

forward, my friends; and may the God of 
battles accompany us !” 

The gates were quietly opened; and, divided 
into three columns, the troops went out in the 
darkness. Falkenberg led the centre, and 
Carl rode at his side. 

“The night is very dark; we must suc- 
ceed!” whispered the youth to the com- 
mandant. 

“ I hope so I” replied the latter, in the same 
guarded tone. “ But silence I we are near the 
trenches I” 

The soldiers marched cautiously, making 
the least possible noise, for every one knew 
that the success of the undertaking depended 
entirely upon their surprising the enemy. 
Those batteries, by day so noisy, now wrapped 
in silence, lay so close before them that 
they could have touched the mouths of the 
cannon with their outstretched hands. Not a 

voice was heard ; the camp was still as death. 

10 


no 


THE IRON AGE. 


They are entirely unprepared for us,” said 
Falkenberg, softly, to Carl, as his troops 
halted before a battery, and, with the other 
two columns, breathlessly awaited the word 
of command. ''It is time!"' “Fire!” he 
cried, in a voice of thunder, which was echoed 
from one column to another. “Storm the 
batteries ! Forward I” 

All three divisions rushed forward at once. 
In an instant they had reached the batteries : 
and then ensued one of those terrible, con- 
fused scenes of war. Shots were fired, sabres 
clashed ; the gunners were overpowered, after 
a very short resistance, and the guns were 
spiked. Then the three bodies, quickly 
united in one, pressed forward to the camp. 
Meanwhile, the sleeping soldiers had been 
alarmed by the firing, but in the darkness, 
only half clothed and half armed, without 
order or discipline, they ran backward and 
forward, pell-mell, adding to the general con- 


THE SIEGE. 


Ill 


fusion and alarm by their wild outcry and 
aimless firing. 

“ Fire the tents !” now cried Falkenberg. 

Burning brands were soon ready, and the 
flames leaped up in twenty or thirty places at 
the same instant. By their light the Magde- 
burg troops pressed on farther and farther 
into the camp, carrying confusion wherever 
they went. At last they found themselves 
almost in the middle of the camp, while the 
flames, fanned by a fresh breeze, spread ever 
farther and farther. But, in the mean time, 
Tilly and his generals had rallied their most 
reliable troops, and now they presented a 
solid front to the partially-scattered column 
of Falkenberg. It was high time to return 
to the fortress, for between it and the camp 
the trampling of horses’ hoofs was now dis- 
tinctly heard, and Falkenberg knew that if he 
lingered his retreat would be speedily cut off. 
He promptly called his forces together, and 


112 


THE IRON AGE. 


before the opposing infantry could do any- 
thing to check his progress, he had gained the 
open field, and, with a general discharge of 
musketry, scattered the cavalry regiment that 
was trying to make a stand against him. 
Proceeding at a rapid march, the Magde- 
burgers regained the sally-ports without fur- 
ther opposition, and soon found themselves 
once more within the protecting walls. 

Falkenberg was among the last to enter, 
and as he did so, he discovered, with con- 
sternation, that Carl was no longer beside 
him. 

“ Where is he ? Where is Carl ?” he cried. 

Is he in the fortress ?” 

“ No, sir !” answered a clear voice behind 
him. Here I am ! I am only a little be- 
hind-hand. I wanted to bring in a prisoner !” 

“ How presumptuous !” said Falkenberg, 
reproachfully. “You might have been cap- 
tured yourself, or perhaps killed, for the 


THE SIEGE. II3 

enemy is just at our heels. Come in quickly! 
There is not an instant to lose !” 

And indeed, the gates were scarcely closed 
before a volley of musketry was fired from 
the direction of the enemy’s camp, and count- 
less balls rattled against the ramparts. The 
fire was vigorously returned, and the imperial 
troops quickly retired. The sally had proved 
fully successful. 

Not until they were again marching through 
the streets — now brilliantly lighted — did Fal- 
kenberg perceive that Carl was leading a 
strange horse by the bridle, and at the same 
time supporting a soldier of the imperial army, 
who, half unconscious, swung to and fro in 
the saddle, apparently unable to control his 
motions. His warlike, bearded face was 
streaming with blood from a wound in the 
temple. 

*‘Whom have you there?” demanded Fal- 

kenberg. 

10 * 


H 


THE IRON AGE. 


II4 

My prisoner, sir,” replied Carl, exultingly, 
“ and an old acquaintance, too. It is the Pap- 
penheimer captain who came within an ace of 
hanging me at Genthin. I saw him by the 
light of the burning tents, and instantly recog- 
nized him. He was wounded, had been sep- 
arated from his comrades, and could scarcely 
keep his seat in his saddle. So I went to 
him, seized his horse’s bridle, held him up, 
and brought him here. That is the whole 
story, and it was the reason why I was so 
tardy in entering.” 

“ It was, indeed, high time for you to come 
in, foolish boy,” answered Falkenberg. ” But 
what is to be done with the man ? It would 
have been better to have left him outside.” 

“Then he would most likely have been 
trampled to death by the horses !” exclaimed 
Carl. “ I could not bear to think of that, for 
he was not unkind to me ; indeed, I believe 
he purposely gave me a chance to escape. I 


THE SIEGE. 


II5 

will take him to Herr Sparnagel’s. My kind 
mother, I have no doubt, will let him stay 
there, and will bind up his wound, too.” 

Falkenberg shrugged his shoulders. “ You 
are a singular boy,” he remarked. But 
since you have brought him in, we cannot, 
certainly, leave him here in the streets. Take 
him to Frau Sparnagel.” 

Carl understood the hint and slipped away. 
He soon reached Herr Sparnagel’s house, and 
had not much difficulty in finding room there 
for the poor, half-stunned prisoner. His 
adopted parents, full of that charity which, 
though it hath “suffered long,” still “is kind,” 
would at any time have been ready to minis- 
ter even to the wants of an enemy ; how much 
more now, when their hearts were full of joy 
and thankfulness for the success of their de- 
fenders ! The captive was laid upon a com- 
fortable bed, and upon examination his 
wound was found not to be dangerous, al- 


Il6 THE IRON AGE. 

though it had quite stupefied him. It was 
washed and bound up, and then he was left 
to the quiet slumber that very soon closed 
his eyelids. 

On the next morning, when Carl visited 
him, he had entirely recovered his conscious- 
ness and was already dressed. 

Why, boy !” he exclaimed, looking into 
Carl’s face with great astonishment, who are 
you ? Are you not that young sutler that 
Tilly ordered me to hang ?” 

You have a good memory, captain!” re- 
plied Carl, smiling. Things are somewhat 
changed since then. I was your prisoner, 
now you are mine I” 

“How? What do you mean?” said the 
captain, surprised, for he could not remember 
the events of the preceding night. 

Carl explained the matter in a few words ; 
the old soldier looked at him very com- 
placently. 


THE SIEGE. 


II7 


“ Well, you are a clever little fellow, not to 
forget an old acquaintance. Why, I might 
have been a dead man if you had not taken 
care of me. In the dark, and not knowing 
what I was doing — and my horse is so wild — 
what might have been my fate ! But, by the 
way, my lad, then you must have been a 
spy when I caught you. If I had known 
that!” 

“ If you had known it, you would have 
been in the Elbe now, food for the fishes!” 
replied Carl, again smiling. 

“ True, very true !” assented the soldier. 
“Well, well, I suppose it was all for the 
best !” 

“ After all, I did not want to be any more 
of a spy than just to find out whether your 
army really had designs on Magdeburg,” said 
Carl. “ That was my duty, and I was obliged 
to fulfill it.” ^ 

“ Duty or no duty,” growled the veteran. 


ii8 


THE IRON AGE. 




it was a daring attempt, at all events, and 
if — but what is the use of talking about it ? 
You got off at a lucky moment, and I fell into 
your hands at an u/^lucky one ; so turns the 
tide of war!” 

“ Well, don’t be vexed about it, Herr Cap- 
tain,” said Carl. “You will be my prisoner 
only until this siege is over and your cruel 
Tilly has withdrawn. Then you will be free 
to go wherever you please. I have not for- 
gotten your kindness to me, for I know very 
well that you let me escape intentionally.” 

“ Well, I acknowledge I did, but there was 
no merit in that ; I was sorry for you, poor 
young fellow !” replied the soldier, candidly. 
“ Well, then, one good turn for another. You 
owe me nothing now ; and if you give me my 
freedom, as you promise, I shall be indebted 
to you.” 

“ Let it all pass, captain !” said Carl, in a 
friendly manner. “ For all your stern face, I 


THE SIEGE. II9 

know you are kind-hearted, and we must all 
help one another !” 

“ Right, right, my boy !” exclaimed the old 
man, quite affected by the boy’s gentle kindli- 
ness. “ From this time we shall be good 
friends, no matter on which side we stand.” 

A cordial pressure of the hand sealed the 
compact. Before many days the old soldier 
felt quite at home in the Sparnagel family. 
The little Elizabeth became his particular 
favorite, and listened with wondering attention 
to his stories. 

In the mean time the siege was continued, 
without any great advantage gained by the 
besiegers. The garrison of the fortress held 
out bravely, but it was already full time that 
help should come from without, for in the 
beginning of May the supply of powder was 
exhausted, and the guns on the ramparts one 
after another ceased to respond to the enemy’s 
fire. Ther& was neither time nor material to 


120 


THE IRON AGE. 


make more powder. Still, strong in their 
conviction of the justice of their cause, and 
firmly trusting in God, they looked day by 
day for the coming of Gustavus Adolphus. 
And as strongly as the besieged hoped for 
this, so greatly did the besiegers dread it. 

On the ninth of May the enemy’s cannon 
were unexpectedly silent ; many of the guns 
were removed. The camp was quiet, but in 
the city people breathed more freely. None 
doubted that Gustavus Adolphus had come, 
and that Tilly was about raising the siege. 
Every heart rejoiced. People embraced one 
another in the streets, and the glad news 
passed from mouth to mouth. For the first 
time in many long days did the weary, care- 
worn defenders of the fortress indulge in re- 
freshing sleep. As night came on, the greater 
part of them left the ramparts — hitherto so 
vigilantly guarded — to seek repose for their 
worn-out limbs. But it was a dearly-bought 


THE SIEGE. 


I2I 


sleep, destined to be followed by a terrible 
awakening. The siege was indeed at an end, 
but Tilly was still hovering before the city, 
like a threatening storm-cloud, and none sus- 
pected what fearful thunderbolts that cloud 

concealed in its dark folds. 

11 




V. 

THE STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. 

In the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion ; in 
the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me.” 

A LL slumbered in the city while destruc- 
tion waited outside its walls. Tilly had 
indeed relinquished the hope of reducing the 
city by the means he had hitherto employed, 
and he feared that Gustavus Adolphus might 
surprise him. He therefore concluded to 
raise the siege, but at the same time to storm 
the city. His council of war agreed with 
him, and it was decided to make the attempt 
at daybreak, in four places at once. All was 
prepared during the night ; the soldiers stood 

under arms, the leaders were at their posts, 
122 



STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I23 

and every one awaited the signal to open a 
cannonade at the same moment on all the 
designated points. 

A foggy morning slowly dispersed 

the shades of night. In the city, upon the 
ramparts, everywhere, silence reigned. The 
soldiers were asleep, the citizens had with- 
drawn to their houses. At this hour a boy 
walked alone through the deserted streets and 
approached the ramparts of the Neustadt for- 
tifications. It was Carl, already dressed and 
armed. An indefinable uneasiness would not 
permit him to sleep, and drove him out to the 
walls. No sentinel challenged him. Each 
one, wrapped in his cloak, lay sleeping on the 
bare ground at his post. Carl listened, for it 
was as yet too dark to distinguish anything 
on the plain without the city. No suspicious 
murmur met his ear ; all was as still outside 
the walls as within. He went from one post 
to another; everywhere the soldiers slept. 


124 the iron age. 

He felt an almost irresistible impulse to 
awaken every one, but compassion prevented 
his yielding to it ; it was so long since they 
had enjoyed an hour’s uninterrupted sleep. 

‘•Let them sleep; I will watch!” he mur- 
mured, taking his position upon a gun-car- 
riage, in order to observe what might take 
place outside. 

The night gradually gave place to dawn ; 
the few large stars that glimmered through 
the mist one by one slowly disappeared ; and 
Carl, who had as yet observed nothing calcu- 
lated to justify his fears, began to think them 
idle, when suddenly, just at seven o’clock, the 
thunder of a cannon rolled heavily through 
the silent morning air. Carl sprang up and 
leaned over the parapet. It was not yet light 
enough to see plainly, but he heard the heavy 
tread of a large body of infantry on the march, 
the ring of weapons and the trampling of 
horses. 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I25 

The enemy ! the enemy ! To arms !” he 
shouted, firing off a pistol to awaken the 
sleepers nearest to him. 

At that instant a discharge of musketry 
was heard just outside of the rampart, and in 
the next instant the ditch before the wall, 
which was not very deep, and was unfortun- 
ately dry, was full of soldiers, preparing, with 
loud shouts, to storm the wall. Numberless 
scaling-ladders were instantly erected, and the 
besiegers climbed up by them with the agility 
of cats. The first that succeeded in scaling 
the wall were thrown back into the ditch by 
Carl and the soldiers of the garrison who had 
hurried to his aid; but others followed in 
ever-increasing numbers, and it required but 
a short struggle to overpower the few defend- 
ers. Nearly all were shot down or covered 
with sabre wounds. Carl received a slight 
wound, but escaped with his life. As 

quickly as he could he made his way from 
11 * 


126 


THE IRON AGE. 


the Neustadt fortifications into the town, to 
inform Falkenberg of the surprise. But on 
the way he encountered hot firing in three 
different directions, and thus became aware 
that the fortifications he had left were not the 
only point attacked. The fortress was in- 
vested on all sides. Yet silence still pervaded 
the streets ; the slumbering soldiers knew not 
even yet that the thunder-cloud had burst 
over their heads. 

“ To arms ! to arms !” cried Carl, breath- 
lessly, as he ran through the streets. The 
enemy is upon the walls ! To arms !” 

He hastened toward the town-hall, where 
he hoped to find Falkenberg, but at a turn in 
the street he met the brave commandant, who 
was marching rapidly toward the Neustadt 
gate at the head of a brave band that he had 
hastily collected. 

Help ! save us !” cried Carl to him. The 
enemy has scaled the walls !” 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. 12/ 

- “ Then we must throw him back into the 
ditch !” returned Falkenberg, resolutely, and 
hurried forward with redoubled speed. Carl 
kept close at his side. A brave resistance 
was made to the invaders ; Falkenberg him- 
self fought hand to hand. In the midst of 
the struggle the news came that the enemy 
threatened the opposite gates also. 

“ My children, hold out here as long as you 
can !” cried Falkenberg to the soldiers. “ I 
must go over there ! Defend yourselves to 
the last man ! If you give way, all is lost !” 

With these words he hurried to the threat- 
ened gate, and Carl followed close behind 
him. Where his general fought, there, too, 
was his place. At the gate all was noise, 
confusion and bloody conflict. It was, indeed, 
fully time for Falkenberg to be there, for the 
enemy had scaled the wall at that point also, 
with a very large force, and others were still 
pressing in. Falkenberg threw himself before 


128 


THE IRON AGE. 


the deluge of death, and the soldiers followed 
him, their courage renewed by finding their 
honored commander at their head. At that 
moment a sharp volley of musketry was fired, 
a ball struck the brave Falkenberg in the 
breast, and with the cry, I am killed !” he 
sank to the ground. Carl was terrified at 
seeing him fall, and quickly ran to his aid. 

No one can help me !" said the dying 
man, speaking with difficulty and with fast- 
whitening lips. Help yourself, my boy ! 
May God bless you and have mercy on this 
unhappy city !” 

His eyes closed, the last sigh escaped from 
his heroic bosom, and the brave defender of 
Magdeburg was no more. 

Carl pressed one kiss of love and sorrow 
upon the forehead of his noble friend and 
general, then quickly rose, for there was no 
time for the indulgence of grief. The enemy 
was gaining rapidly upon the defenders of the 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. 12g 

city, who now, seeing their leader fall, gave 
way. Carl was borne along in the flight. 

The continual firing of muskets, the shrill 
ringing of alarm-bells, the shouting, huzzaing 
and trampling in the streets at last awakened 
and alarmed the sleeping citizens, who now 
rushed out — most of them only half clothed 
and half armed — to meet the invaders. There 
might now have been some hopes of driving 
the imperial troops back, but alas! Falken- 
berg had fallen ; the guiding hand which 
might have brought order out of confusion 
was cold in death. The want of powder now 
made itself felt. The small supply was speed- 
ily exhausted, and it was no longer possible 
to return the enemy’s fire. Suddenly fresh 
tidings of evil spread; the besiegers were 
storming the city at two other gates ! The 
general disorder and consternation now rose 
to the highest pitch. Four imperial reg- 
iments entered at those points, attacked the 
I 


130 


THE IRON AGE. 


garrison from behind, and completed the vie- 
tory. The last of the leading officers of the 
Magdeburgers had fallen, sword in hand, and 
after five hours of desperate fighting, all re- 
sistance had ceased. Magdeburg — running 
red with blood— was at the mercy of a merci- 
less foe, rendered more merciless by a long 
and tedious siege. 

The broken-down gates were guarded by 
sentinels, and cannon were* planted before 
them. Several other gates were opened, by 
which entered bands of Croats and Walloons, 
scattering like a pack of cruel blood-hounds 
through the unhappy and devoted city. 

Even if he had been so disposed, Tilly 
could scarcely have kept his fierce bands of 
men under restraint, but he did not give him- 
self the trouble of trying to do it. Magde- 
burg was given over to pillage ; the savage, 
inhuman soldiery forced their way into the 
houses, and committed such pitiless deeds of 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I3I 

cruelty as have seldom been paralleled in the 
history of the world — such deeds as none 
could commit but men under the influence of 
those demoniac spirits whose horrid pleasure 
is in war and bloodshed. Old men, women, 
children, young girls, — none escaped the mur- 
derous fury of the terrible foe. One fear- 
ful cry of anguish arose to heaven through- 
out the length and breadth of the doomed 
city. 

In scenes like these do we read the fulfill- 
ment of the prophecy that the serpent shall 
“ bruise the heel” of the promised Redeemer. 
Wherever upon earth, from the day of gloom 
on Calvary, backward to the most remote 
age, or forward to the present day, evil has 
seemed to triumph over good, right over 
wrong, there the fiend has exulted over his 
permitted victory. Who, who could have 
hope or comfort amid such scenes of horror, 
did he not know, by faith, that the Prince of 


132 THE IRON AGE. 

Peace shall finally *‘beat down Satan under 
his feet”? 

Carl had fought among the bravest to the 
last moment of the contest ; as if by a miracle, 
he had escaped uninjured from the horrid 
scene. Pale, bloody and with features con- 
vulsed by distress, horror and excitement, he 
now hurried toward Herr Sparnagel’s house. 
On the way he witnessed scenes of cruelty 
that chilled his blood, and heard, mingling 
everywhere with cries of pain and terror, the 
exulting shouts of the brutal soldiery. 

Carl trembled as he thought of his beloved 
adopted parents and the little Elizabeth. 
With desperate eagerness he pressed through 
the streets, and reached Herr Sparnagel’s 
house quite breathless. 

Thanks be to God !” he cried, the door 
is still closed !” 

Not to attract the attention of the soldiers 
in the street, he did not enter by the front 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I33 

door, but went through a little court near by, 
from which a small gate led into the yard. 
This gate was also closed, and Carl would not 
venture to knock. He climbed up on the 
wall, and crossed a stable roof, from which he 
descended into the yard. Then he hastened 
into the house, and to the family sitting- 
room, where he was received with cries of 

joy- 

Carl ! Thanks be to God, he is safe !” 
cried all with one voice. 

“ And you,” he returned, breathlessly — 
“you are all living? no one wounded or 
hurt ? My dear father and mother, my 
sweet little Elizabeth ! Oh, father, terrible 
things are being done in the city ! We must 
flee; nothing awaits us here but a horrible 
death !” 

Herr Sparnagel, pale and exhausted — for, 
like Carl, he had been fighting valiantly all 

the morning — shook his head sadly. “ Im- 
12 


134 


THE IRON AGE. 


possible !” he replied. Every avenue of 
escape is closed, and these furious wretches, 
who spare neither woman nor child, would 
cut us down without mercy if they should 
see us.” 

“ Let us hide, then ; surely we can find 
some place of concealment !” said Carl. “ It 
will be only for two or three days ; then their 
fury will be past.” 

“ I have already^ thought of that,” said 
Herr Sparnagel. ^‘Yes, we must hide our- 
selves, if we would escape death; perhaps 
worse than death ! There are several good 
hiding-places in my granary : we will find the 
best and go there. Courage, dear wife ; cour- 
age, my little Elizabeth ! Let us yet hope 
that the Lord will preserve us from our en- 
emies. Get some provisions together imme- 
diately. Carl, we will take our weapons with 
us. Happily, I have still a little powder and 
ball for our pistols. If they find us, we will 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I35 

sell our lives dearly ; we will fight until our 
last breath !” 

We will : and let us trust in God !” an- 
swered Carl, courageously. “ But where is 
the captain? I do not see him! He cer- 
tainly has not deserted us I” 

“ Oh no, I am not afraid of that I” answered 
Frau Sparnagel. ** About an hour ago he 
went out, but first he closed and barred all 
the doors and the gate very carefully, and 
promised to return. I trust in his word.” 

^‘And you are right, noble lady!” said a 
deep voice ; it was the captain himself who 
spoke, having just entered the room. Rage 
and grief were blended in the expression of 
his usually stern countenance, and his bearded 
lips trembled as he added : 

“ Oh, my friends, I have seen many fearful 
sights in my long experience of military life, 
but never anything so revolting as what is 
passing in your streets to-day ! It is as 


136 


THE IRON AGE. 


though a legion of devils had been let loose 
upon the city, for our Pandours and Croats 
and Walloons are acting toward the citizens 
more like demons than like honorable sol- 
diers. Even poor innocent children are 
butchered without mercy ! It was done be- 
fore my eyes, and I had no power to prevent 
it ; not one will listen to a word of humanity. 
And perhaps I shall not be able to protect 
you either. You must hide yourselves ! 
What can so few as we are do against this 
myriad of blood-hounds ? I will do all I can 
to save you. If they harm one of you, it will 
be across my dead body !” 

*‘We have already agreed that it will be 
necessary to hide for a while,” said Herr 
Sparnagel. “ Come with us, captain !” 

“ No ; I will remain down here in the 
house,” replied the soldier. “ If they see 
that I have possession of it already, they will 
perhaps not attempt to enter. But do you 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I37 

go, and when it is safe for you to take flight, 
I will let you know. Only make haste ; not 
a moment is to be lost !” 

As if to add emphasis to this injunction, 
the sound of the butt of a musket, driven 
violently against the house door, was now 
heard, and loud, angry voices demanded ad- 
mittance, with terrible threats. Frau Spar- 
nagel was so alarmed that she trembled, but 
the old soldier reassured her. 

“ Go, good lady, to your hiding-place,” he 
said. I will be ready for them I The door 
is shut and barred, and I have barricaded it 
pretty stVongly. Y6u may place yourselves 
in safety long before they can force their 
way in. Only go; you must not stay here 
any longer !” 

“ But you ?” asked Sparnagel. “ Will not 
you be in danger if you stay ?” 

‘‘ My uniform protects me, and, if needs be, 

my good sword will aid me,” replied the cap- 
12 * 


138 


THE IRON AGE. 


tain, composedly, while the knocking on the 
door resounded louder and louder through 
the house. will show you that I have 
nothing to fear.” 

He went resolutely to the window, opened 
the closed shutters, and leaned out. 

“ Ho, there ! are you crazy, fellows ?” he 
cried to the riotous soldiers below. ** This 
house is taken; it belongs to me! Find 
yourselves another 1” 

“ Ah, a captain I One of the Pappenheim- 
ers I We are too late, indeed I Good luck, 
comrade !” they cried, and the blows on the 
door ceased. The soldiers went a^ay, and 
the captain closed the shutters. 

“ You see now,” he said, turning to the 
family, “ that I have nothing to fear for my- 
self. They respect the Pappenheim cuiras- 
siers. If I could get together a few of my 
corps — only a dozen — no one should harm a 
hair of your heads. But I fear,” he added, 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. 1 39 

^‘that they too would plunder just now, as 
well as the rest. Go, go, friends ; every min- 
ute may endanger your lives !” 

^‘You are right, captain,” replied Herr 
Sparnagel. “ Do not let us linger here, dear 
wife !” 

He took the little Elizabeth, weeping with 
fright, in his arms. Frau Sparnagel hurriedly 
procured some food, Carl filled a large stone 
jar with water, and then all — Herr Sparnagel 
leading the way — ascended the stairs to the 
highest story. There they came to a wall 
which apparently divided the house from the 
adjoining one ; but when Herr Sparnagel had 
touched a concealed spring, a small door 
opened, which led into a room, not very 
large, but still light and airy. 

I arranged this hiding-place some time 
ago,” he said, “since this disastrous war has 
been raging in our country, and now it is just 
what we need.” 


140 THE IRON AGE. 

You did well, sir!” said the captain, who 
had followed the family in order to know 
their hiding-place in case of necessity. “ Only 
remain quiet here until I bring you word. 
You will be well hidden, for the sharpest eye 
could not discover the spring which opens 
that door. Farewell, and God protect you 
all I” 

He left them, hearing again a noise from 
below, and our fugitives in their own home 
remained quiet in their secret chamber. Not 
a word was spoken ; each listened with 
throbbing heart to the confused and awful 
clangor that arose from the street. Musket 
shots were heard from time to time, swords 
clashed, and cries of mortal agony rose shrill 
above all other sounds. There was one 
little window in their room, through which 
they could see into the street. Herr Spar- 
nagel cautiously approached it for the 
purpose of reconnoitering. But in a few 



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STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I4I 

seconds he turned hastily away, his eyes and 
his pale countenance full of horror. 

“Oh, what have*you seen?” exclaimed his 
wife. “ It must have been something fearful !” 

“ Fearful, indeed !” he replied, with quiver- 
ing lips. “ I could see but ten or eleven 
houses, yet that small space is crowded with 
horrors ! I saw wives murdered in their hus- 
bands’ arms ; I saw a daughter thrust through 
with a sword at her father’s feet ; I saw a little 
child on its mother’s bosom pierced by a 
dagger! O Lord, have mercy on this un- 
happy city I” 

Tears gushed from the eyes of the usually 
cheerful and courageous man, and he wrung 
his hands in the anguish of despair. The 
sad mother pressed her little Elizabeth to her 
bosom with a heart full of fear. Carl could 
scarcely preserve his composure. No one 
ventured again to the window; all sat still, 
absorbed in their own sad, anxious thoughts. 


142 


THE IRON AGE. 


Thus passed hours. At last Herr Spar- 
nagel sprang up, saying: “What can this 
mean ? It seems to me that smoke is coming 
into the room ! Can the monsters have 
fired the houses ?” 

Carl ran to the window. 

“ Awful !” he exclaimed. “ As far as I can 
see, flames are bursting from all the roofs ! 
The wind is fortunately blowing from us, and 
we are not yet in danger. And in spite of 
everything, the butchery and pillage are still 
going on ! Oh, these men must be heart- 
less !” 

Herr Sparnagel satisfied himself that they 
were not in immediate danger, and then 
watched with a gloomy countenance the 
progress of the conflagration. A strong wind 
had arisen, and was driving the flames from 
one roof to another. No one tried to extin- 
guish them. On the contrary, many of the 
soldiers were still running about with fire- 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I43 

brands, throwing them into the houses that 
were not yet burning. And now they per- 
ceived that the flames had burst forth on the 
opposite side of the broad street. 

“We are lost!” groaned Herr Sparnagel. 
“ We have only a choice between being mur- 
dered by the soldiery or finding death in the 
flames ! For my part, I prefer the latter 1” 

“ No, no, Herr Sparnagel I” urged Carl. 
“ Do not give way yet to despair 1 If danger 
were so near, our friend, the captain, would 
certainly have come to us. The flames have 
not yet reached our house, and God may 
grant that it shall be spared! The captain 
will keep them from firing it, if it be in his 
power.” 

“What could he do against so many?” 
answered Herr Sparnagel, hopelessly. 

At this moment hurried footsteps were 
heard approaching their door. It was opened 
in the next instant, and the captain entered. 


144 


THE IRON AGE. 


We must leave,” he said. The adjoin- 
ing houses are on fire, and in a few moments 
this may be burning too.” 

Let it be so !” answered Herr Sparnagel, 
in despair. I would rather die by fire than 
give my wife and child up to the fury of these 
blood-hounds ! The flames will have mercy 
upon them, rather than those men !” 

“ Not so, my friends ; you shall neither be 
murdered nor burned,” replied the captain. 
“ Do you not see what I have brought with 
me ? Dress yourselves quickly ! Here, 
noble lady, take this coat of mail and this 
helmet; I took them from the body of a 
young cornet who lay dead in the street. You 
will pass for one of our men. But make haste ! 
I smell the fire close at hand already !” 

He threw the armor down before the 
trembling woman, who hastened to assume it. 
The captain had brought other articles with 
him, which he gave to Herr Sparnagel and 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I45 

Carl, and in a few minutes they were com- 
pletely disguised in the imperial uniform. 
The captain had also provided weapons. 

‘^With these I can defend my wife and 
child !” exclaimed Herr Sparnagel. 

*‘You will not need them, I think,” an- 
swered the captain, consolingly. “ The con- 
fusion is so great that no one will notice or 
suspect you.” 

“ But my child ! my Elizabeth !” exclaimed 
Herr Sparnagel, with increasing excitement. 

How shall we conceal the little creature ?” 

I have provided for her too,” replied the 
captain. ‘‘ Wait a moment.” 

He hurried out, and directly returned with 
a large sack, which he triumphantly displayed 
to the others. 

** We can put her into this, and they will 
suppose that it is some article of booty ; that 
is, if the little one will only be quiet.” 

** You are surely God’s messenger for our 

13 K 


146 THE IRON AGE. 

safety, captain !” cried Herr Sparnagel. 
‘‘ How can I ever thank you enough ?” 

“Thank him!"' replied the old man, point- 
ing to Carl. “ If it had not been for him, it is 
not likely we should ever have become ac- 
quainted.” 

“ Ah, Carl, my dear son, my faithful com- 
panion in misfortune !” said his adopted 
father, much moved, seizing the boy’s hand. 
“ I bless the hour in which I found you and 
brought you to my house ! It was but a 
slight act of kindness, yet how richly the 
Lord has repaid it ! Without you, we might 
all have fallen into the enemy’s hands !” 

“ Enough, enough !” interrupted the friendly 
captain. “ We have better use for our time 
than to spend it in talking. Are you ready, 
my good lady ?” 

“ I am,” replied Frau Sparnagel as she re- 
entered the room. The helmet covered her 
long, heavy, dark hair, and the coat of mail 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I47 

fitted well upon her figure. It would have 
taken a sharp eye, indeed, to have discovered 
her sex. 

“ Very well !” said the old soldier. Now 
fasten on this sword and let us go.” 

“ But where ?” asked Herr Sparnagel. “ Do 
you know of any place of refuge ?” 

“Yes, in the cathedral!” replied the cap- 
tain. “ I have heard that it alone is to be 
spared. It will serve as an asylum. There 
we will go ; fortunately, it is not far distant. 
Come here, my little Lieschen ; you must 
creep into this sack, and I will carry you on 
my shoulder. Don’t be afraid ; I will not let 
any one hurt you.” 

“Oh, I am not afraid!” replied the little 
one, confidingly, suffering herself to be placed 
in the sack. “ If you are with me, and father 
and mother, no one will harm me.” 

“ So much the better, my child !” said the 
old soldier, raising the light burden to his 


148 THE IRON AGE. 

shoulder. “ And now come ; only courage ! 
Look out fearlessly from under your helmets 
and keep close to me. And you, dear lady, 
be very careful not to betray yourself by your 
fright or horror at the shocking scenes in the 
street; that might be death to all of us. 
Take good care ; you will see fearful sights, 
but control your feelings !” 

X I will !” replied Frau Sparnagel. ** I will 
remember that the lives of my husband and 
my child depend upon it !” 

“ Right !” said the captain, approvingly. 
** Now come, for the smoke is rising thicker 
and thicker; the stairway will be on fire 
directly. Do not be afraid, nor even cast 
down your eyes ; the more wild and fearless 
you look, the better !” 

With these words, the captain led the way 
down the stairs and into the street. The rest 
kept close behind him. Their escape was 
not made a moment too soon, for scarcely 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I49 

were they in the street before the outer stair- 
case was in flames. 

“ God be praised, we are in the open air !” ' 
said the captain. “ Courage, comrades ; for- 
ward !'’ 

And now not only Frau Sparnagel, but 
even her companions, needed all their cour- 
age — needed almost superhuman resolution — 
not to be overcome by the horrors that met 
their eyes on the short road to the cathedral. 
Stifling smoke, mingled with showers of 
sparks, obscured the air ; the whole city ap- 
peared to be on fire, and in the midst of the 
flames the terrible work of robbery and mur- 
der went unceasingly on. Over countless 
corpses, lying with gaping wounds upon the 
pavements, between flashing swords and 
among ruins, the fugitives held on their way. 
Blood lay in all the little hollows along the 
road, like puddles of water after a heavy rain. 
Violence, noise, confusion reigned supreme. 


150 


THE IRON AGE. 


Frightful figures, with bloodstained armor 
and dripping weapons, and with visages de- 
formed by the fiendish passions of war, met 
them and looked suspiciously at them. With- 
out the captain, they could scarcely have 
passed unmolested through the streets; but 
the veteran put on his fiercest expression, and 
pressed forward with so commanding a mien 
that no one ventured to molest him or his 
party on their way. 

It is a Pappenheimer !” men muttered. 
*^They are no jokers !” 

With silent prayers for help and strength 
from above, the little family went forward. 
Frau Sparnagel exerted herself to the utmost 
to walk firmly on, although she was almost 
fainting at the sickening sights around her. 
Her husband fortunately observed her condi- 
tion, and aided her with his arm. 

“ Courage, dearest wife !” he whispered. 
“We are almost there !” 


STORMING OF MAGDEBURG. I5I 

She quickly recovered herself, and they 
went on as before, the captain making way 
for them. Several times, indeed, he had to 
use his sword, when some band, more lawless 
than the rest, blocked his way ; but he laid 
about him so vigorously that the men were 
glad to get beyond his reach as quickly as 
they could. At last the little party reached 
the cathedral. The great door was closed, 
but Herr Sparnagel knew a small side en- 
trance, and there he knocked with the hilt of 
his sword. 

Take care what you are about there !” 
said a Croat who was passing, in broken Ger- 
man. “ If Tilly sees you, you will be tied up. 
The city is given us to sack, but the churches 
are to be spared.” 

**A11 right, comrade!” replied Sparnagel. 
“ Thank you for the warning ; but I did not 
come here to plunder, only to find some 


one. 


152 


THE IRON AGE. 


The Croat passed on without suspicion, 
and Sparnagel knocked again. 

** Who is there ?” timidly inquired a voice. 

** The Sparnagel family,” whispered the 
merchant through an opening in the door. 
** Open, I beg of you, or we are lost !” 

The bolts rattled, and the door moved on 
its hinges. When the man who was opening 
it caught sight of the imperial uniform, he was 
suddenly about to close it, but Herr Sparnagel 
pressed quickly in, drawing his wife and child 
with him. Carl and the captain followed, and 
within the sacred walls all fell upon their 
knees and thanked the Lord who had de- 
livered them from so great danger. Within 
His house they felt safe from the destruction 
without ; and perhaps no more heartfelt 
thanksgiving had ever arisen from the soul of 
Sabbath worshiper on that hallowed spot than 
was now breathed forth by those to w'hom it 
had become the only asylum on earth. 



VI. 


A NEW HOME. 


Then are they glad because they be quiet'' 

OR two full days the work of death and 



destruction continued ; and not until the 
fourteenth of May, when Tilly himself en- 
tered the devastated city, was any restraint 
put upon the violence of the soldiery. All 
those who were still living received pardon, 
and whatever had escaped the flames was 
spared. Some thousand people had taken 
refuge in the cathedral, and they were now all 
permitted to go free. With tearful eyes and 
hearts full of anguish, they gazed on the 
desolation of their beloved city, of which little 
remained but heaps of smoking ruins. Fire 


153 



154 THE IRON AGE. 

and sword had done their fearful work. 
Thirty thousand human beings had been 
sacrificed to the fiendish wrath of the foe. 

“ What will become of us ?” said Herr 
Sparnagel, sadly, as, surrounded by his family, 
he surveyed the ruins of his house. ‘^All 
my possessions lie buried under these frag- 
ments. We are reduced to beggary !” 

“ Perhaps we may be able to get into the 
cellar, where your money and jewels are hid- 
den, sir,” whispered Carl to his adopted 
father. We must wait until night, that no 
one may see us.” 

“ The attempt can do no harm, at any rate,” 
replied Herr Sparnagel, in the same tone. 
“ We will think over it at leisure. The first 
thing is to find some shelter for my wife and 
child.” 

To find any lodging in the city was impos- 
sible, for the few houses which had escaped 
that direful conflagration were occupied by 


A NEW HOME. 155 

Tilly and his highest officers. But Herr 
Sparnagel possessed, at about half a league 
from Magdeburg, a large garden with a little 
house in the midst of it ; and it was decided 
that they should go there. They hoped to 
find the house still standing, and to make it 
habitable, at least for a few days. There was 
some little consolation in finding their hopes 
realized. The house was, indeed, stripped of 
everything it had contained, but was in quite 
good condition, and would afford them shelter 
from wind and rain. In providing for their 
remaining necessities, the old captain afforded 
valuable aid. He obtained a wagon and a 
pair of horses, with which Herr Sparnagel 
went to the nearest village that was still in- 
habited. There he succeeded in procuring 
some beds and some articles of clothing ; the 
latter his wife received with particular pleas- 
ure, as they enabled her at last to lay aside 
the uniform and appear in womanly apparel. 


156 


THE IRON AGE. 


The family remained for several days in 
this little dwelling, as did also their new 
friend, the captain, who had resolved hence- 
forward never to leave them. 

“I am tired of war,” he said. “What I 
have witnessed in your city has disgusted me 
with a soldier’s life now and for ever. I 
abandon the sword for the plough. I long to 
lead the quiet, peaceful life of a farmer.” 

Herr Sparnagel applauded his resolution, 
rejoicing much in the possession of so 
brave and faithful a companion. Nor did 
he conceal from the captain his intention 
of searching the cellar of his house, to 
which undertaking the old man offered his 
assistance. 

“ But let us wait a few days,” he said ; “ the 
attempt would be dangerous just now. Tilly 
cannot possibly remain very long in the 
ruined city. The pillage, it is true, has 
ceased ; but if our movements were observed 


A NEW HOME. I57 

by any covetous eye, we might lose not only 
the treasure, but our lives.” 

This counsel was too sensible to be slighted, 
so they deferred the attempt. But Carl went 
every day to the city to procure food and to 
bring what news he could hear. At last he 
came home quite joyful, and told the family 
that Tilly, with his whole army, had taken 
the Thuringian road. 

“ To-night, then, we will dig our way into 
the cellar,” said Herr Sparnagel, and the 
others assented. 

Provided with picks and spades, Herr Spar- 
nagel, the captain and Carl set out at early 
dusk for the city, went to the ruins of their 
house, and commenced their labors without 
any particular precautions. They thought 
they had nothing to fear, since Tilly and 
his army had left. The ill-fated city lay 
silent and deserted in the moonlight ; nothing 
was to be seen save heaps of ruins, from 

14 


158 THE IRON AGE. 

which protruded half-charred beams. Our 
friends went to work immediately, without 
suspecting that a sharp eye was secretly 
watching them. A few soldiers — most of 
them wounded — had been left behind, and one 
of these, hidden behind a wall, witnessed their 
proceedings. 

“ They are not burrowing among that rub- 
bish for nothing,” thought the cunning Croat. 

They are searching for something, and that 
something must be either gold or what is 
worth gold ! Fll see !” 

He stood motionless in his place of con- 
cealment, in whose deep shadow he was en- 
tirely hidden. In the mean time, our dili- 
gent little party succeeded in clearing away 
and throwing aside the fragments of stone, 
plaster and charred wood, and at last Herr 
Sparnagel suddenly uttered a joyful exclama- 
tion. 

Here is the entrance to the cellar !” he 


A NEW HOME. I59 

said. The door is locked ! My little treas- 
ure is still there !” 

He had no key, but it was not difficult for 
him and his companions to break open the 
door with their picks. Herr Sparnagel de- 
scended first into the cellar ; the others fol- 
lowed. 

“ Just so ! a treasure !” exclaimed the Croat, 
in an undertone, rubbing his hands. “ How 
shall I get hold of it ? I cannot do it by my- 
self, but I know two comrades who will be 
glad to help me for a share of the spoil. 
Now let me see what they do with their 
booty.” 

It was not long before Herr Sparnagel and 
his two companions came up from the cellar, 
carrying two boxes that seemed tolerably 
heavy. 

“ God be thanked !” said Herr Sparnagel. 

He has preserved to me my property, and 
thus relieved me from the most pressing of 


i6o 


THE IRON AGE. 


my anxieties. At home we will determine 
how to use this treasure. Let us go.” 

They went home. The Croat followed 
them, and when they had gone into the little 
house in the garden, he placed his ear at the 
closed window-shutters and listened for a 
long time. 

Good ! I know all about it now !” he 
said to himself. ** They will set out to-morrow 
morning. We, too, will be ready then, and it 
will be strange if we do not find some chance 
to fall upon them unawares !” So saying, he 
turned to go back to the city, and was soon 
lost amid the shadows of the night. 

On the next morning, a little after sunrise, 
a light wagon, drawn by two horses, set out 
from the little cottage. Herr Sparnagel was 
in it with his wife and child. Two persons 
on horseback — the old captain and Carl — 
rode close behind the wagon. They were 
armed with swords and pistols, in case of any 


A NEW HOME. l6l 

danger. It was decided that the little party 
should go to Carl’s native place, and seek in 
the silver-valley — that retired little corner of 
the earth, so easily rendered inaccessible to 
hostile foot — a refuge until the storm of war 
should be over. 

They traveled but a short distance each 
day, not to weary Frau Sparnagel and the 
little Elizabeth, so that it .was nearly a fort- 
night before they arrived at the entrance to 
the valley. 

Up to this time no mishap of any import- 
ance had retarded their journey. But now, 
just as Herr Sparnagel was in the act of un- 
harnessing the horses to lead them through 
the narrow pass, a gunshot was heard close 
by, and balls whistled over the travelers' 
heads, happily without wounding any one. 

A surprise !” exclaimed Carl, who had 
already dismounted. The captain had passed 
into the valley with the two horses. 

14 * L 


THE IRON AGE. 


162 

*^Take care of your wife and child, Herr 
Sparnagel !” continued the youth. Go in 
at once ! I will stay at the entrance until 
you are in safety !” 

At the same instant he drew his sword and 
boldly turned to meet three Croats who sud- 
denly burst out of their ambush and rushed 
toward him. He contended bravely against 
them for a few moments, giving Herr Spar- 
nagel time to put his wife and child in safety 
and to call the captain to the rescue. With 
him he returned in a few minutes, just when 
Carl, after a manful resistance, had been 
stretched on the ground by a blow from one 
of the Croats. 

“ Ah ! you shall pay dearly for that !” cried 
the old captain, taking a deadly aim at the 
foremost of the robbers, whom he brought to 
the ground. Herr Sparnagel also attacked 
them, and in a few minutes the remaining 
two were driven off. No one thought of pur- 


A NEW HOME. 163 

suing them. The victors both knelt down 
beside Carl. 

“ He lives, thanks to God ! and his wounds 
do not seem to be dangerous !” said Herr 
Sparnagel. What grief it would have been 
to lose him just here on the threshold of the 
new home to which he has led us ! O Lord,’* 
said Herr Sparnagel, reverently and with 
deep emotion, “ how much thou hast done 
for me by the hand of this boy ! How richly 
hast thou rewarded me for the * cup of cold 
water’ thou didst permit me to offer him ! 
Truly, it is a glorious privilege to do good in 
thy name and for thy sake ! This youth has 
saved me, has saved my wife and child from 
distress and misery and shame, perhaps from 
death! He has sacrificed himself for our 
sakes I Can we ever cease to love him ? 
— See, he opens his eyes I Carl, my son, are 
you better ?” 

I was only stunned,” answered the boy. 


164 the iron age. 

It was a blow from the broad side of a sabre 
that knocked me down. But where are the 
robbers? Gone? Is Frau Sparnagel safe, 
sir, and little Elizabeth ?” 

Safe, thanks to you !” replied Herr Spar- 
nagel. “Your noble self-sacrifice gave me 
time to put them beyond the reach of 
harm. Let us follow them. Oh, may we 
find here the peace and rest we so earnestly 
desire !” 

Their wish was mercifully granted. In 
this secluded spot they dwelt unmolested 
amid the strife and dire confusion that reigned 
for years longer in the land. Carl soon re- 
covered from his injuries, and received ample 
compensation for all he had undergone, in the 
fullest love and confidence of his adopted 
parents and sister. 

Peacefully, happily, they lived and labored 
together in the fruitful valley ; reaping, with 
loving and thankful spirits, amid all the strife 


A NEW HOME. 165 

and confusion of the land around them, the 
fruits of their faith and diligence. 

** SUIjOBO 10 10100, anb luill ob0erue tlje00 tljing0, 
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A HISTORIC SKETCH 

OF THE 

THIRTY YEARS^ WAR. 


CHAPTER I. 

JIOIV THE IEOH ACE CAME IN. 

Behold a fourth beast : it had great iron teeth : it de- 
voured and brake in pieces^ and stamped the residue with 
the feet of ?V.”— Daniel vii. 7. 

T N Germany, where the story of the “ Iron 
Age” was written, the boys and girls 
know all about the Thirty Years’ War (which 
was the time of the Iron Age), as our boys 
and girls know all about our Revolution. A 
story can begin anywhere in the Thirty Years’ 

War and the children know how to fit it in. 

169 





15 



170 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

But in America, many grown people even 
know very little about the way the Iron Age 
came in, and how the dreadful scenes of 
which this story tells were brought about, 
and how it all turned out at last. Now these 
chapters are meant to explain this ; to tell the 
simple story of the Iron Age of the Thirty 
Years’ War. The Thirty Years’ War is the 
most tangled of all wars, but we shall try to 
keep everything clear and make it easy to re- 
member, by arranging the matter with care 
and keeping distinctly before the reader the 
chief date, place and name which come up in 
each part. 

I. Causes of the War. The Reformation which God 

Germany. 1517-1617. ^bout thrOUgh Luthcr 

and other great and good men spread so fast 
that it looked as if all Europe were going to 
give up the Roman Catholic errors and come 
back to the pure Gospel. The Pope and his 
friends were very angry and very much fright- 


THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. I/I 

ened at this. The Holy Scriptures and all 
the good arguments were on Luther’s side. 
The Pope saw that he could not prove^ to the 
people that Romanism is right, and he saw 
too that if something was not done his reign 
of deceit and cruelty would soon be over. 
So he and the Jesuits persuaded the rulers to 
persecute the Protestants who could neither 
be coaxed back nor driven back. The Pope 
found it very hard to put falsehoods into the 
head of an honest man, who wished to know 
the truth ; but when the kings helped him, he 
found it easy enough to cut the honest man’s 
head off or burn him to death. So when the 
Pope, with all his cunning, could not persuade 
men to give up the Gospel, he got the rulers, 
wherever he could, to kill them ; and when, 
in spite of all his efforts, the countries became 
Protestant, he tried to get the Roman Cath- 
olic princes to make war on them. Luther 
was so opposed to persecution and violence, 


1/2 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

and to mixing politics with religion, and to 
any way of promoting the Gospel except by 
teaching the truth, that he kept the Lutheran 
princes from going into war, even when every- 
thing was done to provoke them to it. He 
would not let the Roman Catholics be perse- 
cuted where the Protestants had power. So 
the Roman Catholics could not find any 
good excuse for making war on the Lu- 
theran princes, and there was peace till after 
Luther’s death. Butin 1546 — the very year 
Luther died — war was made on the Protest- 
ants. But at last the Roman Catholics had 
to give up for the time. In 1555 the re- 
ligious peace of Augsburg put a stop to 
the religious wars in Germany for the Six- 
teenth century. This peace gave the Lu- 
therans the same rights as the Roman Cath- 
olics. It was a great triumph of religious 
liberty. The Pope was terribly displeased 
with it, and tried to persuade the emperor to 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. I73 

break his oath that he would not oppress the 
Protestants any longer. But the emperor 
would not do it, though the Pope promised 
him absolution, which meant that, though 
God says that perjurers shall be sent to hell, 
the Pope was ready to promise that God 
should not send the emperor there, even if 
he did swear falsely. The Pope was doing 
just what St. Paul said the man of sin would 
do : He as God sitteth in the temple of 

God ; exalteth himself above all that is called 
God.” 

But though the Roman Catholics were 
compelled to grant the Lutherans their rights, 
they did not like to do it, and whenever a 
chance occurred they violated the treaty as 
much as they dared. The Pope and the 
Jesuits were always watching and planning 
and plotting. The Jesuits said that it was not 
wrong to break promises made to heretics ; 
and all the dreadful lies they told, and all the 


1/4 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

treachery they practiced, and all the massacres 
and murders they stirred up men to do, they 
pretended were for the greater glory of 
God.” These words were their motto. That 
is just what our Lord had said would take 
place : ** Whosoever killeth you will think that 
he doeth God service.” 

16«,. Bohemia. But ill Spite of the bad faith 
Rudolph II. qJ- jjjg Roman Cath- 

olics, no war broke out again until the Seven- 
teenth century. Right in the heart of Europe 
— in Bohemia — it began. Long before the 
Reformation there were many in Bohemia 
who resisted some of the Romish errors. 
These old Protestants before Protestantism 
were called Utraquists and Calixtines, because 
^they used both (utraque^ in Latin) the cup 
{calix^ in Latin) and the bread at the Com- 
munion, as our Saviour commanded, and not 
the bread only, as the Romanists do. They 
were dreadfully persecuted, but they fought 


THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. 1/5 

bravely and often beat the Romanists. After 
the Reformation, two-thirds of the Bohemians 
were Protestants. Protestantism was so strong 
that in 1609, Rudolph II., Emperor of Ger- 
many, guaranteed that it should have freedom 
in Bohemia. 

1612. Bohemia. i6i2, Matthias succeeded* 

Matthias. brother Rudolph as em- 

peror. He violated the agreement with the 
Utraquists, and refused toleration utterly to 
the Lutherans and Calvinists. The whole 
body of Protestants made common cause, but 
their protests and petitions were treated with 
contempt. 

II. Beginning of the On the 23d of May, 1618, 

War. Bohemia. 

Matthias. 1618-19. two of the four officials of 
the emperor, at Prague, who had announced 
in his name that he would not tolerate the 
Lutherans and Calvinists, were seized in 
the royal castle by a band of Utraquist 
nobles, and, with the private secretary, in 


176 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

accordance with what a grave historian 
calls “the ancient Bohemian usage,” were 
pitched out of the window. The window was 
eighty feet from the ground ; but happily for 
the gentlemen, in their grand though invol- 
untary feat of lofty tumbling, they fell on a 
pile of rubbish and their necks were not 
broken. They hurried to Vienna to meet 
their emperor, who swore revenge. The 
23d of May, 1618, may be called the first day 
of the Thirty Years’ War. The battle of the 
Dust Heap might make us laugh, if it had not 
opened one of the longest and most dreadful 
wars in the history of the world. 

HI. War for Freder- Calamity and suffering were 

ick. Bohemia. Max- 
imilian. 1620-25. indeed to come upon the 

Bohemians in a measure which would have 

satisfied the most revengeful spirit. But 

Matthias was not to inflict them. He died 

in less than a year, and was succeeded as 

emperor by Ferdinand H. (1619). 


THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. I// 

Ferdinand 11 . was a veiy bigoted Roman- 
ist. He had been educated by Jesuits, and 
was ready for anything they might wish him 
to do. But the Bohemians would not allow 
him to be their king, and chose in his place 
the Elector Frederick V. of the Palatinate. 
Frederick V. was of the Calvinistic faith. He 
was not wise in accepting — as he did very 
eagerly — the throne thus offered. He was 
crowned at Prague, November 4, 1619. He 
gathered all the troops he could to meet the 
emperor, and even proposed to the Turks to 
be his allies, which was so contrary to right 
feeling both for his country and his religion 
that all Germany — the Protestant as well as 
the Roman Catholic part — was shocked at it, 
and the elector of Saxony promised aid to 
the emperor. 

1620. Prague. The great generals, Tilly and 
Frederick v. Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, 

attacked the Bohemian army, with Frederick 
M 


178 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

at its head, near Prague, and beat them, 
November 8, 1620. Ferdinand not only took 
away the kingdom from Frederick, but drove 
him out of his electorate, and the poor ex- 
elector and ex-king never had even a home 
again. The victories of Gustavus, of which 
we shall tell at their place, aroused his hopes ; 
but when Gustavus fell at Liitzen, Frederick 
exclaimed, It is God’s will !” took to his 
bed, and in eleven days after died of a broken 
heart. Twenty-seven of the nobles were be- 
headed after the defeat of Frederick. By this 
terrible battle of the White Mountain, Bo- 
hemia was wiped out of the list of kingdoms. 
It became and is to this day a mere portion 
of Austria, and Protestantism never recovered 
there from the blow then given it. 

1622. wimpfen. ^1* looked as if the fate of 
Bohemia might soon be the 
fate of Germany, and that Protestantism might 
be blotted out in blood. The Margrave of 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. I79 

Baden-Dourlach and the Count of Mansfeld 
were trying to unite their armies under pre- 
tence of defending the Protestant cause. But 
Tilly, after the brilliant victory at Prague, in 
which he had borne so large a part, hastened 
to the Rhine to prevent this union, and suc- 
ceeded. He attacked the margrave in the 
defiles of Wimpfen, and though the battle was 
fought with the greatest bravery by the Pro- 
testants, they were defeated. Tilly followed 
up the Protestant armies under Christian of 
Halberstadt and Mansfeld, beat them repeat- 
edly, broke them up and compelled their 
leaders to take refuge in England (1623). 
The Papists began to hope that Romanism 
would again rule all Germany. Those who 
called themselves defenders of Protestantism 
were often either weak or bad men, and God 
used the enemies of truth to chastise its pre- 
tended friends. 

But in spite of its bad leaders and great 


l8o A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 


misfortunes, the Protestant interest seemed to 
,626. Dessau. ■'evive again. Mansfeld had 

Wallenstein. 1 > • 1 • • 

obtained a commission as an 
English general, and had gathered a strong 
force of English soldiers. Other armies were 
in the field against the emperor, who was now 
threatened from various quarters. His army 
was partly disbanded and his money all spent. 
He might have been overthrown had not 
Wallenstein, who was the greatest of the im- 
perial generals, come to his aid. Wallenstein 
offered to raise an army of forty thousand 
men with his own funds, and pay them with 
what they took from their enemies. His re- 
nown, his wealth, his indulgence of his sol- 
diers, drew around him at once a great army 
from every part of Europe. They seemed to 
make a mob rather than an army ; but the 
iron hand of their commander kneaded them 
into a well-united mass.” He took a fortified 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. l8l 


position at Dessau, on the lower Elbe. Three 
times Mansfeld attacked him there, and three 
times was beaten ; the third time utterly put 
to rout. Wallenstein followed him up, striking 
him at every opening, till Mansfeld fled from 
the remnant of his army and died at a village 
on the way to Venice, where he had intended 
to take refuge. Christian of Halberstadt had 
died before him, only twenty-seven years of 
age. 

IV. Foreign inter- Outsidc of Germany, the 

fereiice. Christian /* , r • t i .ri 

IV. of Denmark. A^st friend who Came to the 

Lutta. 1625 28. rescue of Protestantism was 

Christian IV. of Denmark. With all the aid 
in soldiers and money he could obtain from 
allies, Christian advanced to meet Tilly, who 
was carrying on the war west of the Elbe, 
while Wallenstein was pressing his victory in 
eastern Germany. King Christian’s mind had 
been very much affected by a fall from his 

horse, and he believed that God had called 
16 


i 82 a historic sketch of 

him in a miraculous way to be the champion 
of the Protestant religion. Tilly, by his skill- 
ful manoeuvres, wasted away the poor king’s 
army till half of it was gone, then forced him 
to stand at Lutta, and on August 17, 1626, 
the Danes were completely defeated and 
Christian fled into his own kingdom. In 
1627, Tilly took one by one the towns on the 
west side of the Elbe which the Danish gar- 
risons had occupied. Wallenstein, after beat- 
ing Mansfeld, had driven out the Danes east 
of the Elbe, and now he and Tilly united their 
armies. In 1628, Christian came back with a 
new army ; but Wallenstein, in one campaign, 
compelled him to beg for peace and to prom- 
ise to interfere no more in the affairs of Ger- 
many. 

V. Edict of Restitu- Ferdinand II. was now so 

tion. Ferdinand II. 

Austria. 1629-32. drunken with victory that he 
issued the Edict of Restitution (1629), which 
he pretended was the authentic explan- 


THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. 183 

ation of the religious peace.” By this edict 
the Protestants — which was a name only 
given at that time to the Lutherans — 
were to surrender all the foundations which 
they had confiscated since the treaty of 
Passau. Only those who received the Augs- 
burg Confession were to have the benefits 
of the religious peace. The Calvinists were 
to be excluded from it entirely, though by 
general consent they had hitherto enjoydd the 
benefits which, in strict technicality, belonged 
only to the Lutherans. The Roman Catholic 
States were to have unrestrained liberty to 
persecute and blot out Protestantism in their 
hereditary lands. The Protestant worship 
was completely suppressed throughout all 
Austria. It looked as if all was lost, when, 
on the 24th of June, 1530, Gustavus Adol- 
phus, King of Sweden, as “ Protector of the 
Protestant Faith,” landed a little army of 
thirteen thousand men on the coast of Pomer- 


i 84 a historic sketch of 

ania. This movement was daring beyond 
expression. It accepted the challenge of one 
of the mightiest empires on the globe — an 
empire which had the greatest generals of 
the time at the head of its armies — armies 
which were composed of veteran troops, 
flushed with continued victories and who 
believed themselves to be invincible. But 
from the earliest movements of Gustavus 
it was clear that his judgment was as solid 
as his bravery and enterprise were bril- 
liant. His enemies were soon taught not 
to overvalue themselves nor to despise an 
army which, though few in numbers, was 
composed of disciplined, hardy troops, made 
invincible by a holy purpose and led by one 
who was as great in action as he was bold and 
skillful in planning. Wherever Gustavus ap- 
peared the’ fortresses and towns gave them- 
selves up to him. He drove Tilly back upon 
the Elbe. The courtiers at Vienna tried to 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 185 

flatter the emperor, who began to get very 
uneasy. He has no army,” they said — 
“nothing but a body-guard. Never mind 
him. He is only a snow-king. He will soon 
melt as he gets down to the warm south.” 
But there was no melting of that man, unless 
it was melting like that which makes the re- 
sistless avalanche glide down from the cold, 
high mountain to grind everything to pieces 
before it. But at this period of reviving hope 
a cloud fell upon the joyous hearts of the 
Protestants. While the Swedes were occu- 
pied in another part of Germany, that dread- 
ful tragedy occurred which is the historical 
centre of the story in this volume — the taking 
of Magdeburg. 

.63.. MagdAurg. This rich and populous 
Pappenheim. imperial City was devoted to 

the Lutheran faith and abhorred the imperial- 
ists, who had been ordered to seize and hold 

it against the Swedes. For making an al- 
16 * 


l86 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

liance with Gustavus it was put under the ban 
of the empire. Tilly and Pappenheim were 
charged to execute the ban. It is precisely 
at this awful point in the Iron Age that the 
story in this book begins. After a heroic 
resistance, Magdeburg was taken, May lo, 
1631. The sacking of the city was one of the 
most fearful pieces of murderous wickedness 
in this bad world since the death of righteous 
Abel. Pappenheim had the tiger’s thirst for 
blood, aroused to the last pitch by the obsti- 
nate defence of the city, and let loose his wild 
Croats, Walloons and Pandours upon the de- 
voted people, who were butchered without 
distinction of age or sex. When the soldiers 
had plundered the richest houses, they set fire 
to the rest, and a violent wind rising, the 
whole city was wrapped in flames, in which 
the living and the dead were consumed to- 
gether. In the church of St. Catharine were 
found fifty-three women with their hands tied 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. iS/ 

behind them and heads cut off Poor little 
children, crying for their murdered parents in 
the streets, and innocent babes and the moth- 
ers on whose breasts they lay were run 
through with spears and swords. Even the 
emperor’s officers, accustomed as they were 
to scenes of blood, implored Tilly to restrain 
these dreadful crimes. His reply, it is said, 
was : The soldier has his danger and labor. 
He must get something to pay him for them.” 
Of thirty-five thousand inhabitants, only five 
thousand were left after the massacre. When 
the flames began to abate, the pillage of the 
city was renewed. Rich treasures were found 
in the cellars and other hiding-places where 
the citizens had concealed them. More than 
six thousand bodies were flung into the Elbe 
to clear the streets. In Tilly’s own account 
sent to the emperor he declared that the 
horrors of the siege had nothing equal to 
them since Jerusalem had fallen. But awful 


i88 


A HISTORIC SKETCH. 


as the sufferings of Magdeburg were, we 
know that they were not as terrible as those 
of Jerusalem, for Jesus said : There shall be 
great tribulations, such as were not from the 
beginning of the world to this time; no, nor 
ever shall be.” Tilly never knew an hour of 
happiness nor a gleam of success after his 
great crime. 






CHAPTER II. 

HOW THE STEEL BROKE THE IRON. 
Shall iron break the northern iron and steel ?''* — Jer. xv. 1 2. 

' I ^HE approach of deliverance had precip- 
itated the fall of Magdeburg. It was 
dread of the coming of Gustavus Adolphus 
which had led Tilly to storm the city. It was 

,630. Sweden. Gun- not the fault of Gustavus that 
uvus Adolphus. Magdeburg was not saved. 

The guilt of its fall rests in great measure 
on the feeble, selfish vacillation of some of the 
very princes he came to rescue. Gustavus 
the Great was one of the noblest kings of a 
land of noble kings. He was acquainted with 
eight languages, four of which he spoke and 
wrote fluently. He was well read in the 

189 



igO A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

classics and in ancient history. The accom- 
plishments which make a man gentle he com- 
bined with the knowledge and habits which 
make a man strong. He was a fine musician 
and excelled in all manly exercises, but he 
was also trained to a thorough knowledge of 
business, and was at once the greatest warrior 
and greatest statesman of his age. He was 
the first soldier, not in a peaceful time, but in 
an age of great wars and of great soldiers. 
By the law of Sweden no one could take the 
throne before he was eighteen, but Gustavus 
was a boy of such brilliant promise that the 
law was set aside in his case. He took the 
sceptre at the age of seventeen, and in a few 
years, by his prudence and valor, Sweden was 
delivered from dangers which threatened her 
very existence. Moved by political reasons 
of great weight, and yet more by religious 
convictions, he appeared as the defender of 
the precious faith restored by Luther, and 


THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. I9I 

which was very dear to the heart of the 
king. 

When Gustavus crossed the Baltfc sea, 
June 24, 1530 — just one hundred years to a 
day after the delivery of the Augsburg Con- 
fession — it seemed as if the cause of truth was 
gone beyond all help. Every attempt at re- 
sistance had been crushed out. The generals 
of the empire were the most renowned com- 
manders of the time — men who could win 
victories and knew how to make the most 
terrible use of them. 


But four months had passed 
since the downfall of Magde- 


1631-32. Leipzig. 
Lech. Tilly.- 


burg when the ravening Wolf, glutted with the 
blood of the innocent, found himself con- 
fronted with the Lion of the North. Tilly 
was encamped near Leipzig. The fierce Pap- 
penheinP forced him to attack Gustavus. The 
battle was long and bloody, but the imperial 
army was routed. Tilly saw his soldiers fly- 


192 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

ing in wild confusion. The terrible old field- 
marshal, almost alone, bleeding from three 
wounds, wept in rage and despair, and swore 
that he, the victor in thirty-six battles, the 
loser in none before this fatal day, would die 
rather than retreat. He was at length per- 
suaded to withdraw, and with a few regiments 
of his veterans fought his way through. Gus- 
tavus forced him afterward beyond the river 
Lech, and there — April 5, 1632 — Tilly re- 
ceived his death-wound. He expired the next 
day, at the age of seventy-three. Tilly had 
been a member of the society of Jesuits, and 
never lost the fierce fanaticism and terrible 
power which knowing how to obey and how to 
command gives to that order. He hated here- 
tics and loved the Roman Catholic religion in- 
tensely, unlike Wallenstein, who cared little 
for the interests of religion in any form, and 
sought the wealth and pomp which Tilly de- 
spised. Tilly was a little man, very ugly, 


THE THIRTY YEARS WAR. I93 


with red hair, large beard, a pale face and pierc- 
ing eyes. He lived like a monk in the midst 
of the camp. He thirsted for blood, but never 
touched wine. He murdered women, but 
boasted that he never had loved them. He 
was never so weak as to take children into 
his arms, but he did not prevent his Croats 
from stabbing them and hurling them into 
the flames. He was very silent, and seemed 
generally absorbed in thought. He put away 
honors from him and died poor. He was too 
much occupied with great crimes to leave 
room for small vices. 


After Tilly’s death there 
was but one general who could 


1631. Germany. 
Wallenstein. 


hope successfully to meet Gustavus Adolphus. 
This was Wallenstein. From his earliest 
childhood he had shown an imperious and 
daring spirit and a love of military life. His 
family belonged to the old Utraquist Protest- 
ants of Bohemia, but his uncle, who was also 


17 


N 


194 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

his guardian, was a Roman Catholic, who put 
him under the care of the Jesuits, by whom 
he was converted to the Church of Rome. 
He mastered the learning of his time, and 
showed as a student the most brilliant talents. 
In the war against the Turks he displayed his 
military talents and personal bravery. In 
peace he was so sagacious that he gathered 
enormous wealth, which in' war he bestowed 
with such lavish hand upon his soldiers as to 
make him their idol. In the Thirty Years’ 
War he rendered most important services to 
the imperial cause. Whether the emperor 
needed funds for his treasury, soldiers for his 
wars, or splendid genius to make both funds 
and soldiers effective, Wallenstein supplied 
all. Like all the greatest generals, he knew 
the value of speed, and his enemies often only 
discovered where he was by his springing 
upon them. When he drove King Christian 
out of Germany and saw that he had escaped 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. I95 

in his ships, his fury was such that, like a 
child who slaps the chair on which he has 
hurt himself, he ordered his men to bombard 
the sea with red-hot bullets. He was one of 
the first who comprehended the depth of the 
plans of Gustavus, and did homage to the 
greatness of his character. Wallenstein was 
too successful to escape envy and bitter en- 
mity. His vices and virtues were alike 
against him. The princes whom he dwarfed 
by comparison hated the brains which told 
against their blood. Tilly hated him as the 
only rival he had occasion to fear. His des- 
potic character and fierceness, his aversion to 
foreigners, his hatred to priests and to the 
Jesuits, raised him up bitter enemies, at the 
head of whom was Maximilian of Bavaria. 
Such was the pressure brought to bear on the 
emperor, who was not himself free from jeal- 
ousy and fear of the great leader who had 
served him so well, that finally, after long 


196 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

hesitation, he dismissed Wallenstein from the 
leadership of the army in 1630, just when 
Gustavus left the coast of Sweden to invade 
Germany. Wallenstein retired without a word 
of complaint, feeling, no doubt, that he could 
do better without the emperor than the em- 
peror could do without him. He had not 
long to wait. Gustavus Adolphus, . by his 
grand achievements, had brought the empire 
to the brink of ruin. If Wallenstein could 
not be brought to the rescue, all was over. 
The emperor who had dismissed him had to 
implore him to resume the command, and 
Wallenstein finally took it, but on terms which 
made him almost the emperor’s equal : in 
the army, in fact, he was the emperor’s supe- 
rior. 

Probably two such generals as were now to 
test their strength never before met in battle. 
The great struggle between Wallenstein and 
Gustavus took place at Liitzen, November 6, 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. I97 

1632. The differences in the character of the 
two armies who were here to meet was as 
marked as that of their leaders. There has 
1632. Lutzen. Gus- never been ga;thered in our 

tavus Adolphus. . . *11 

world an army so simply and 
earnestly religious as that which Gustavus 
led. It became the model of the army which 
terminated the great civil war in England a 
few years later. The imperial army pretended 
to fight for religion, but in it there reigned 
only immorality, lust, cruelty and disregard 
of all the virtues and decencies of life.” “ If 
the number of the army of Gustavus was 
small, the materials were admirable; hardy 
children of the North, as ready, perhaps^ read- 
ier, for a winter campaign than for a summer ; 
trained in the habits of a strict and, so far as 
he could make it so, a godly discipline.” In 
its ranks was a Scottish brigade, and of the 
officers who served under Gustavus there are 
none of whom we hear more honorably than 


198 A HISTORIC SKETCH. 

of the Seatons, Leslies, Mackays, Monroes 
The two Armies, and Hepbums. The king 
trusted in them and they loved the king. 
Among the Swedish nobles there are still 
Scotch names, which perpetuate in the de- 
scendants the memory of their fathers who 
fought under Gustavus. In the army of the 
king every crime was punished with severity, 
but, above all, blasphemy, cruelty to women, 
stealing, gaming and duelling. Simplicity of 
manners and habits was commanded by the 
military law of Sweden, and not even in the 
king’s tent was there silver or gold plate. 
He watched the religious interests and per- 
sonal morals of his soldiers. Every regiment 
had its chaplain, around whom the soldiers 
gathered in the open air for morning and 
evening prayer. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SWEDES’ STONE. 

** The stone that smote the image became a great mountain 
and filled the whole earth .” — Daniel ii. 35 . 

HE battle of Liitzen still affords one of 



the most interesting chapters in mili- 
tary histoiy, notwithstanding all the gigantic 
additions which the annals of the last and 
present centuries have made to it. Though it 
occurred just halfway in the period of the 
Thirty Years’ War, yet it was in truth the 

Battle of Liitzen. tuming-point of the contest. 

Place in History. 

Importance of. Up to that point the event in 

debate was the annihilation of one party by 
the other. After it, the terms of separation 
only. To the soldier it is memorable as the 


199 


200 


A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 


last field in which the old system of tactics 
was fairly pitted against the modern ; for the 
modern military art may be truly described 
as a development only of that introduced by 
Gustavus Adolphus. But it is more famous 
as the occasion of victory and death to one of 
the few leading spirits of the world’s history ; 
one of the few in whom nobleness of heart 
and purpose and prominence of genius were 
so fused together as to constitute the true 
character of the hero.” 

On the morning of the great battle of Liit- 
zen the king received the Holy Supper. At 
the early prayer was sung the king’s own 
hymn : “ Forsake not, Lord, thy little flock.” 
The king remained long upon his knees in 
silent communion with his God. While this 
was passing a heavy mist gathered. As the 
hour of battle approached the whole army, 
with the rolling of kettle-drums and with the 
trumpets swelling the sound, sang Luther’s 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 201 

great hymn, A fast-set bulwark is our God,” 
and “ Our God shall to us gracious be.” The 
Swedes were led by the king in person. A 
more gallant army never entered into action, 
and yet its experienced generals remarked 
with regret that these were not the same in- 
vincible Swedes who had crossed the Baltic 
and conquered at Leipzig. Battles and 
marches,- detachments and garrisons, and, 
above all, the camp fever, had thinned the 
ranks of those veterans, and they were re- 
placed by recruits who had learned little as 
yet from their comrades, except their martial 
ardor. The Romish watchword was Jdsus 
— Mary.” The king repeated the watchword 
under which his army had already been 
crowned so often with victory : “ God with 
us.” At eleven the heavy fog rolled away, 
the sun burst forth and the two hosts looked 
on each other. The artillery opened the 
battle. The Swedish infantry charged on the 


202 


A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 


centre of Wallenstein’s squares and broke 
them. The cuirassiers of Piccolomoni came 
to the relief of the infantry with such force 
that the Swedes were driven back, leaving 
seven of their cannon in the hands of the foe. 
Gustavus called out to his favorite colonel, as 
he pointed to the cuirassiers, in their black 
armor : “ Charge those black fellows or they 
will do us mischief.” Galloping before his 
men, he threw himself on the flank of another 
regiment of cuirassiers. The exalted spirit of 
the champion of religious liberty — the Gideon 
of Protestantism — had in this, his last hour, 
its purest flame. *^Now then!” he cried. 

God is our strength ! Let us at them ! O 
Jesus, Jesus, help us to fight for the glory of 
thy holy name 1” He led his men on to the 
thickest of the fight. His ardor carried him 
beyond the body of his troops, and but a few 
horsemen kept up with him. At this moment 
a pistol shot broke his left arm. He still 


THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 2O3 

continued to encourage his comrades. “ It is 
nothing !” he cried. Follow me !” But his 
failing strength soon compelled him to turn 
his horse’s head. As he turned, an Austrian 
cavalier in bright armor — probably Falken- 
berg — who knew him, cried out : “ Art thou 
here? I have long sought thee!” and dis- 
charged his carbine into the king’s shoulder, 
near the spine. The king fell from his horse. 
He said faintly to the Duke of Lauenburg : 
“ Brother, my life is gone ; look to your own.” 
He lay in a death-swoon till a party of irreg- 
ular cavalry, who were plundering the slain, 
roused him and inquired who he was. “ I 
am the King of Sweden,” he replied, ^^and 
seal with my blood the liberty and religion 
of the German nation.” A soldier among the 
plunderers, on receiving this answer, shot the 
king through the head, and another stabbed 
him with his sword. The dying king had 
still strength enough to say : “ My God I my 


204 A. HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

God !” Once more he opened his lips to say : 
‘‘ My poor queen !” and all was over. A des- 
perate struggle had taken place before the 
body of the king was abandoned. Every one 
about him had been either killed or mortally 
wounded, except the Duke of Lauenburg, 
who was afterward widely believed, but on 
very insufficient grounds, to have assassinated 
Gustavus. Not until after the battle was the 
body recovered. It was found plundered and 
stripped. Nine fresh wounds were upon it, 
with many a scar from the older battles. 
Borne upon an ammunition wagon, with the 
king’s favorite white standard before it, it was 
brought in the night into the village church 
of Meuchen. The troops who escorted it did 
not dismount, but rode by torchlight around 
the altar before which it was laid. 

The sorrow which the death of the king 
occasioned throughout Prdtestant Germany 
and in Sweden is painted by those who lived 


THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. 205 

at the time in the liveliest colors. Country- 

Sorrow over the death and town, citizen, peasant 
of Gustavus. soldier, all united to- 

mourn the irreparable loss. They wandered 
about like a flock without a shepherd, loudly- 
bewailing the death of their prince, their 
liberator ; for such was Gustavus Adolphus to 
them all. Never was a sovereign more re- 
vered, more loved or more wept for. Every- 
one would have his portrait, and there was 
not a cottage in Germany where it was not to 
be found. And that popular impression was 
as deep and enduring as it was general. In 
1796 a traveler mentions that the Saxon pos- 
tilion never passed the Schwedenstein without 
reverently lifting his hat. And if traditional 
reverence has since grown Tainter, that which 
arises from wider education and an increased 
love of religious and political freedom has 
taken its place, and the memory of Gustavus 
Adolphus abides as life-like as ever. 


2o6 a historic sketch of 
Maria Eleanora, the queen of Gustavus, to 

The Queen. Sweden. whom, next tO God, his dying 
-1631-33. thoughts had been directed, 

loved her husband with intense devotion. 
He had parted from her at Erfurt, as he left 
for his last campaign, with a presentiment 
that it might cost him his life. Committing 
his queen to the tender care of the magistracy 
of the city, he had said : “ In anticipation that 
it may be God’s pleasure that this expedition 
on which I now enter may prove fatal to me, 
I appeal to your honor and integrity to con- 
tinue firm in your attachment to my dear 
consort.” He then turned to his queen, but 
his emotions overcame him. He tried in vain 
to find utterance. With a fervent embrace, 
and repeatedly exclaiming with a broken 
voice, God bless you !” he tore himself away 
and galloped toward the rear of his army, 
which was now in full march. The intelli- 
gence of the awful calamity at Liitzen brought 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 20/ 

the heart-broken queen to Weissenfels, where 
the body of the king, embalmed, was lying. 
The queen took her place by the body as 
chief mourner, hardly quitting it for a mo- 
ment until its final interment The sad pro- 
cession, attended by the sobs of thousands, 
moved in melancholy state to Pomerania. 
All Germany was melted into one passionate 
love and reverence for her great defender. 
In advance of the bier were four thousand 
Swedish soldiers, in deep mourning, with 
arms reversed. More than a hundred horses 
caparisoned in black followed it The royal 
standard of Sweden, so heavy with emblazonry 
as to require the strength of several men to 
support and display it ; the richly-inlaid armor 
of Gustavus, together with his sword, which 
had been recovered from the battle-field of 
Lutzen; the ball which had been extracted 
from his body, and yet bore the marks of his 
blood,” were borne in the procession. When 


208 a historic sketch of 

the flotilla had reached the coast of Sweden, 
and the disembarkation began, a tempest 
arose, and the thunder mingled with the roar 
of the artillery from the forts and ships of 
war. Not until more than a year after reach- 
ing Stockholm were the royal remains com- 
mitted to the mausoleum prepared for them. 
The inscription on his tomb closes with these 
words : 

“In ANGUSTiis intravit: 

Pietatein amavit : 

Hostes prostravit ; 

Regnum dilatavit : 

Suescos exaltavit ; 

Oppresses liberavit : 

, Moriens triumphavit.” 

That is: “In trying times he entered: 
Piety he loved : His enemies he overthrew : 
His kingdom he enlarged: The Swedes he 
lifted up : The oppressed he liberated : Dy- 
ing he triumphed.” 

The queen for long, sad years refused com- 


THE THIRTY YEARS WAR. 


209 


fort and brooded over her loss. The heart 
of Gustavus, which had been embalmed sep- 
arately, she kept in her chamber in a golden 
box, to which she went day after day to weep. 
At length the state of her health, broken by 
sorrow, led the Senate to implore her to allow 
the noble heart to be laid with the form of 
Gustavus. She finally yielded, but instituted, 
in memory of him for whom she mourned, 
the Order of the Golden Heart. 

, , , The little town of Liitzen 

The Town and Battle- 
field of Lutzen. some ten or twelve miles 

from Leipzig. From the station at Corbetha, 
on the line between Halle and Weimar, a 
pleasant two hours’ stroll along footpaths and 
cross-roads, through a land of teeming fertil- 
ity, alive with population, brings the traveler 
to it. He finds a rope ferry at the Saale, 
which is here a sullen, deep stream, cutting 
its way through the gravel. He passes the 

pretty, bowery village of Vesta, with its aged 
18 » 0 


210 


A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 


lindens, and thence traverses the open plain 
in the middle of which Liitzen lies. A rich 
and joyous-looking expanse of land, studded 
with villages and tall church-steeples, lies Be- 
fore him ; here and there he sees bedded in 
the soil one of those boulders of dark red 
granite which the glaciers transported hither, 
in the ancient eras of geology, from distant 
Scandinavia. Far in the south the first blue 
outlines of the Erz-gebrige faintly show them- 
selves. Such is the aspect of the vast battle- 
field of Northern Germany, the scene of some 
of the greatest military events of modern his- 
tory, of which it may be said, with even 
greater truth than of the plains round Water- 
loo, that “not an ear of corn is free from the 
blood of men.” Liitzen itself is a thoroughly 
old-fashioned, forgotten-looking little Saxon 
town. Passing the town, and following the 
road to Leipzig for about three-quarters of an 
English mile, the traveler discovers on his 


THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 2II 

right the central object of his search — the 
Swedes’ Stone.” It stands not exactly on 
the spot where the king is supposed to have 
fallen, but within a few yards of it. The stone 
is one of those rough Scandinavian boulders 
already mentioned, brought thither by God 
before man was upon earth, to mark the spot 
where Scandinavia’s greatest son was to lay 
The Swedes’ Stone, down his life. The stone 
bears on its northern face, fronting the road, 
the inscription *‘G. A. 1632.” It is sur- 
rounded, after the kindly German fashion, 
with a little shrubbery and a gravel walk, and 
is surmounted by a Gothic arch of cast iron, 
placed there some twenty-five years ago, 
executed in fair taste, but injuring the sim- 
plicity of the stern old monument. It was a 
bold, fine thought of Jacob Erichson, the 
king’s body-servant and fellow-soldier, though 
carried out with something of the roughness 
belonging to the age, when he harnessed . 


212 


A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 


thirteen peasants of the neighboring village 
of Meuchen to this stone, which lay at some 
distance, and made them drag it, “with sweat 
and tears,” to its present site, from whence it 
looks eternally over the northern plain of 
Germany toward the hero’s own distant home. 

History has grown cold and critical. Our 
times seem to have a pleasure in decrying the 
subjects of our early enthusiasm, in lowering 
the special heroes of our imaginations. But 
history has not ventured even to attempt this 
with the fame of Gustavus Adolphus. A halo 

Character of Gustavus. of Something like Superhu- 
man dignity surrounds him. So it was even 
with his contemporaries. Those who saw 
him every day seem still to have regarded 
him rather as an agent of Providence — the 
embodiment of a great purpose — than an ordi- 
nary man. He was thus marked from the 
beginning. When his father, Charles IX., 
was exhorted in councils to designs to which 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 213 

he felt unequal, he would lay his hand on the 
head of his boy and say, ''He will do it T 
Gustavus relinquished the love of his youth 
as his first great renunciation for the grander 
purpose of his life. Ebba Brahe, two years 
younger than Gustavus, of noble blood, gentle 
disposition and exquisite beauty, had im- 
pressed the young king with a love which 
animated him in the midst of those early bat- 
tles by which he saved Sweden that he might 
save Europe. The king was, at the time of 
his first pure love, still slight, was tall and 
well-proportioned, with fair, almost golden 
hair, a beard inclining to brown, an aquiline 
nose and a countenance whose pale gravity 
was tempered with great sweetness of expres- 
sion. Beautiful, brave and eloquent, he 
needed not his kinghood to win the heart of 
Ebba Brahe. But the future felt itself into 
the present, and Gustavus married for reasons 
of state ; but not until Ebba Brahe had been 


214 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

given to another. He relinquished not only 
the luxuries of the palace, but the common 
comforts of life. In his earliest moments he 
tamed one by one his hard-necked neighbors 
of the North, as a preparation for the mightier 
destinies which he alone foresaw. As the in- 
carnation of Providence he appeared to the 
Germans when he came as their deliverer. 
His noble features, his bright blue eyes, his 
golden hair — the “King of Gold” the Ital- 
ians called him — ^produced the effect of an 
angelic messenger. Not that he was affect- 
edly superior to other men ; on the contrary, 
he was simple, affable, freespoken among his 
associates even to a fault. The Jesuits of 
Munich and the peasants of Bavaria were won 
by his gentleness and justice. He was of that 
rare class of men whose superiority is such 
that no familiarity seems to diminish the dis- 
tance between them and others. Much of 
this was due to that deep religious conviction 


THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. 215 

which, when openly avowed and consistently 
acted on, always awes minds conscious of 
their own falling short. Cromwell could not 
have been more convinced of his own divine 
vocation, or more fearless in his expression of 
reliance on it; but there is something of the 
earth, earthy, in the zeal of Cromwell, even 
when taken at its best, which contrasts un- 
favorably with the earnest, manly, single- 
minded piety of Gustavus. And the conse- 
quence is, that while Cromwell’s enemies 
made him out a hypocrite, and have left 
probably a majority of men persuaded that he 
was so, no detractor has ever even attempted 
to fasten such an imputation on the Swede. 
His conduct was throughout a noble exem- 
plification of the religion he professed. If he 
ever had the conviction that the only solution 
of the awful questions of the era might be his 
own elevation to the position of Protestant 
Emperor of Germany, it was no personal am- 


2i6 a historic sketch of 

bition which moved him, but ardor for a great 
cause and for the glory of God. His genius 
as a soldier was of the highest order. He 
reconstructed the whole art of war. He sub- 
stituted the great principle of momentum for 
inert weight. Napoleon placed Gustavus 
among the eight greatest soldiers of the 
world, of whom Alexander the Great was the 
first, Napoleon himself the last. Germany has 
w^on her great victories of to-day over Austria 
and France by her more perfect embodiment of 
the principles of war which Gustavus initiated. 
Sadowa and Woerth are but Leipzig and 
Liitzen on a grander scale. Sweden, under 
Gustavus, was the head of the Protestant in- 
terest in Europe. The reign of Gustavus — 
one of the greatest among soldiers and states- 
men, and perhaps the only righteous con- 
queror — has an epic grandeur, the solemnity 
of which is deepened by the sad recollection 
of his untimely fall. Cut off in the bloom of 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 21/ 

years — he was but thirty-eight — the maturity 
of intellect and the full career of victory, he 
closed on the field of Lutzen a life which, if 
prolonged, might have changed the destinies 
of modern Europe, given unity to Germany 
under a Protestant emperor, and reconduct- 
ed, with more enlightened policy and nobler 
intentions, the conquering arms of the North 
to the Tiber and Bosphorus. Posterity 
cannot know, scarce guess, all that to the 
eagle eye of Gustavus that monarchy was des- 
tined to be. The eagle fell, struck down in 
his flight. But that flight had been directed 
toward the sun. And though war yet rolled 
to and fro its bloody tide for many a year 
over the spot where he fell, the place is sanc- 
tified by the triumph of light, and there is 

breathed the peace of mankind.’ 

19 



CHAPTER IV. 

HOfV THE IRON AGE WENT OUT, 

** I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder 
the bars of ironl ^ — IsAiAH xlv. 2. 

I ''HE young Duke Bernhard of Saxe- 
Weimar was one of the most brilliant 
officers of Gustavus. In the repulse of Tilly, 
in the battle near Werben (1631), Bernhard 
drove back the imperial cuirassiers ; and such 
was his daring that Gustavus was compelled 
gently to warn him against displays of per- 
sonal courage which were inconsistent with 
discipline and prudence. At the head of 
three hundred horsemen he dashed up to the 

gates of Mannheim, and pretending that he 
218 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 2ig 
and his men were imperialists hotly pur- 

VI. Bernhard of Saxe- SUed by GustaVUs’ trOOpS, 

Weimar. 1631 1639. admittance and took 

the garrison completely by surprise (1632). 
He was sent by Gustavus in pursuit of Ossa 
(1632). In the attack of Gustavus on Wallen- 
stein at the hill and ruined old castle of the 
Altenwald, Bernhard was among the foremost 
of the brave and had a horse shot under him 
(August 24, 1632). When Wallenstein at- 
tempted to pass through the forest of Thur- 
ingia to form a junction with Pappenheim, 
Bernhard completely thwarted him. At Er- 
furt, where Gustavus met his queen for the 
last time, she gave, at the king’s suggestion, 
a costly diamond to the duke, just before his 
departure for the purpose of watching the 
movements of Pappenheim. In the great 
battle of Liitzen the fame of Bernhard is next 
to that of Gustavus. When Gustavus fell, the 
intelligence of his death was immediately 


220 


A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 


communicated to the Swedish generals. His 
well-known white charger, galloping loose 
and bloody about the field, announced to 
many more that some disaster had befallen 
him. The whole extent of the calamity, 
however, was known to few, but a burning 
desire ran through the ranks to rescue their 
idolized king if he were living, or to avenge 
him if dead. Bernhard sustained and ani- 
mated the enthusiasm. When retreat was 
suggested, the fiery duke replied that it was 
not a question of retreat, but of vengeance in 
victory. When one of his officers refused to 
advance at his order, he ran him through with 
his sword, and after a few words rousing the 
ardor of his men to the highest pitch, he led 
them to the attack. Through the fierce and 
long-dubious struggle of the terrible day 
Bernhard bore the noblest part. The death 
of Gustavus left him in the chief command of 
the army, a position to which his bravery, 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 221 

ability and devotion to the cause entitled him. 
In 1633 he got possession of Regensburg. 
In 1634 he united his forces with those of 
France. He defeated the imperialists at 
Rheinfelden (1638), and took Savelli and Von 
Wertt, two of their greatest generals, prison- 
ers. The most important event between 
1635 and 1639 was his conquest of Alsace, 
which he desired to add to his own duchy. 
France, however, was unwilling to allow him 
to possess it, as she desired to have it 
for herself Bernhard’s intention had hardly 
been made known before he fell so suddenly 
ill as to excite suspicion that he had been 
poisoned by order of Richelieu. He died 
July 8, 1639, at the age of thirty-six years, 
one-half of which he had spent on the battle- 
field. He was the youngest of eleven broth- 
ers, every one of whom who reached man’s 
estate bore arms against the emperor. 

Among Gustavus’ greatest generals was 
19* 


222 


A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 


Baner. Baner, when a boy, had fallen from 
VII. Baner. Witt- a window at a terrible height ; 

stock. Bohemia. 

1639-1641. but, though perfectly con- 

scious when he was picked up, had neither 
groaned nor cried. Gustavus then prophe- 
sied that he would become a great soldier. 
He strongly resembled Gustavus in appear- 
ance. It was said that in his various battles 
eighty thousand of the enemy had fallen, and 
that he had taken six hundred colors. He 
fought under Gustavus against the Russians 
and Poles. He rendered great services in the 
war in Germany. He was unable to take 
part in the battle of Liitzen because of a 
severe wound in his arm. The imperialists 
and Saxons were beaten by him at Wittstock 
(September 24, 1636). In the spring of 1640 
he was driven out of Bohemia into Hesse and 
Hanover by the imperialists, but his retreat 
was a masterpiece of skill. The enemy had 
boasted that they had got him in a bag. “ So 


THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. 223 

they had,” said Baner, and they had tied up 
the mouth of it too, but they had forgotten to 
darn the hole in the bottom of it.” 

In the autumn of the same year the em- 
peror offered peace to the Protestant princes 
on terms which they regarded as inadmissible. 
They reinforced the army of Baner, who in 
January, 1641, advanced as far as Regensberg, 
in hope of surprising the Diet which was sit- 
ting there. Here a French corps united with 
his army, but he was delayed by a thaw in the 
Danube and defeated by the imperialists. In 
the retreat he lost half his troops, and died in 
the month of May, 1641, bequeathing, by his 
last testament, Torstenston to the army as 
his successor. 

In this great crisis, Torstenston, who had 
thus solemnly been called to the command of 
the Swedish army, led them to triumph and 
final victory. He did not so much conquer 
in detail as sweep through Saxony, Silesia 


224 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

and Moravia, and his light horse appeared in 
the neighborhood of Vienna itself. He was 
compelled for a time to return to the North, 
in consequence of a war breaking out be- 
VIII. Torstenston. tweeu Denmark and Sweden. 

Austria. Denmark. 

1641-46. Christian IV. of Denmark, 

who had been so terribly beaten of old by 
Tilly and Wallenstein, fared no better in bat- 
tle with the Swedes. But while Torstenston 
was beating the Danes in Jutland, the imper- 
ialists suddenly appeared in Holstein to shut 
him up in a trap between two great armies. 
From this dangerous position he escaped by 
a bold manoeuvre, which he executed with 
his usual rapidity. He showed the mastery 
of soul over body, for though he suffered 
cruelly with the gout, and had to be carried 
in a litter, his marches were of the most rapid 
and brilliant character. He now advanced as 
if to attack the imperialists, but suddenly 
turned to the right, crossed Holstein, burst 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 225 

through every obstacle to the very heart of 
Germany, and compelled the imperial army 
to follow him with all their speed to save the 
hereditary States of the emperor. When the 
imperialists caught up with them, the Swedes 
turned, beat them back and resumed their 
march. But half the army which had left 
Austria ever returned. Torstenston, in 1645, 
attacked the imperialists and Saxons, in 
Eastern Germany, at Jankowitz, defeated them 
in a bloody battle and made their general 
prisoner. In one campaign he made himself 
master of Silesia and Moravia, and pitched 
his camp near the capital of Austria. Two 
of the great Protestant electors, who were in 
alliance with the emperor, renounced it, and 
made a separate peace with Sweden. The 
gout, which had compelled Torstenston to be 
carried through the rapid marches, now be- 
came so aggravated by exposure and effort 

that he was compelled in 1646 to lay down 
P 


226 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

his command. He was made governor of 
several of the conquered provinces. Chris- 
tina, the daughter of Gustavus, who became 
Queen of Sweden, made Torstenston Duke 
of Ortala. He lived for three years after the 
peace. 

IX. The French. An important part in the 

> 644 -‘ 647 . Thirty Years’ War was borne 
by France, and, what at first seems unac- 
countable, she was on the Protestant side. 
That the nation which is stained with the 
massacre of St. Bartholomew’s night — one 
of the most awful crimes in the long rec- 
ord of Roman Catholic murders — should 
take part in securing freedom to Protest- 
antism may indeed be strange, but it is not 
really more strange than a thousand other 
instances in which the providence of God 
overrules the evil passions of men to his 
glory. For many generations the vehement 
desire of France has been to break down the 


THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. 22/ 

strength of Germany and to get part of the 
German territory for herself In the hope of 
weakening the German empire and of appro- 
priating part of it, France helped the Protest- 
ants in their hour of need, first with money, after- 
ward with armies. When the Swedes, under 
Horn, were routed at Nordlingen (September 
7, 1634) and their general taken prisoner, all 
Southern Germany fell into the hands of the 
imperialists. At this crisis France entered 
into an alliance with some of the German 
princes. The King of France professed 
merely to desire to protect the civil rights of 
the German States against the tyranny of the 
emperor, and not at all to help the cause of 
Protestantism. The strict Romanists were 
awfully scandalized, in spite of his transparent 
plea. A Jesuit wrote a book to show that it 
was not quite consistent for the same man to 
kill the Protestants on one side of the Rhine 
and to send armies to protect them on the 


228 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

other. This book was answered by the 
king’s theological doctors in a manner which 
saved much time and trouble. They had the 
book burned by the hangman. The author 
was in Germany, or, Jesuit though he was, 
he might have been handed over to the hang- 
man too. The alliance of France with some 
of the Protestant States gave great alarm to 
the others. They had no faith that any good 
to Germany could spring from the French 
entering it. Saxony, Brandenburg and other 
States made peace with the emperor on terms 
which seemed to show that he had aban- 
doned all idea of oppressing the Lutheran 
Church. But peace was not yet to come. It 
seemed to be written in God’s purposes that 
a larger liberty was yet to be accorded to his 
children, and that a deeper humiliation was to 
await his foes. The French, in their earliest 
battles, were beaten ; but a new army, under 
Turenne and D’Enghein, who was afterward 


THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 229 

the great Conde, drove the imperialists be- 
yond the Black Forest, leaving the Palatinate, 
Alsace and Baden in the hands of the con- 
querors (autumn, 1644). In 1647 Turenne 
was victor at Allerheim, conquered Suabia 
and marched on Munich. At this low stage 
of the emperor’s fortunes, Maximilian, Elector 
of Bavaria, the greatest and hitherto the most 
faithful of his allies, abandoned him, to the 
great disgust of the Bavarian army and of 
the generals, who considered the act one of 
high treason. A plot was formed by Von 
Werth to restore the army to the em- 
peror and to seize the elector and his minis- 
ters, but the plot was discovered and Von 
Werth fled for his life. 


It was evident that the end 
was near. One drop more 
would make the overflow. 


X. End of the War. 
Wrangel. Konigs- 
tnark. Prague, 1646- 
1648. 


One straw laid on would break the back of 
oppression. The Swedes had begun the 


20 


230 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

work ; the Swedes put the finishing hand to it. 
Wrangel was the successor of Torstenston, 
and his great movements were made in con- 
junction with Konigsmark, the lieutenant of 
Torstenston, and one of the ablest Swedish 
generals. On the 7th of May, 1648, Konigs- 
mark defeated the imperialists near Augs- 
burg. He now invaded Bohemia, and on the 
31st of July captured in part the city of 
Prague. This was the last important military 
event of the Thirty Years' War. When it 
took place, France had withdrawn and Sweden 
stood alone. At Prague the war had begun, 
at Prague it ended. Thirty awful years of 
struggle had shown that if Protestantism 
went to the bottom, it would carry the empire 
with it. The empire was willing enough to 
kill, but not willing to die. The swimmers 
in that sea of carnage, with little left but 
life, weak and panting, relaxed their grasp on 
each other. Their breath was faint, but there 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 2^1 

was enough of it left to gasp the one word — 
peace. 

In 1648, the twelfth year of the reign of 
Ferdinand III., thirty years after the opening 
of the war, it came to a close at the city at 
which it had begun. By the victories of Gus- 
tavus Adolphus, and by the exploits of those 
whom he had taught not only to conquer, 
XI. Peace of West- but to be formidable even in 

phalia. Munster. 

1648. defeat, peace was at last es- 

tablished. The Roman Catholics were com- 
pelled to renounce their gigantic schemes of 
counter-reformation, their plan of overcoming 
truth by murder, and of suppressing con- 
science in the dungeon and at the stake. The 
treaty of peace was signed at Munster, in 
Westphalia, in 1648, and by it were cemented 
the guarantees which the desolation of Ger- 
many and the mortal dangers, anxieties and 
miseries of thirty years afforded, that the 
freedom of religion would not again be rashly 


232 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

disturbed.” By this peace, in addition to 
various political changes and restorations, a 
more general toleration and a political equal- 
ity of the Protestant and Roman Catholic 
communions were established. The benefits 
which had, by connivance, been extended to 
the Calvinistic Reformed Churches, under the 
peace of 1555, as adherents of the Augsburg 
Confession, were now formally conferred upon 
them. Protestantism had won for herself on 
the battle-field security in her rights. Sweden 
had conquered much and retained little, but 
she had given Gustavus Adolphus to save 
Europe, and Gustavus and his noble men 
have left their pure renown as a heritage 
more precious to her than would be the pos- 
session of all the lands she wrested from cruel 
hands and restored to peace and a pure faith. 
In the maintenance of religious freedom by 
sacrifice and valor the name of Sweden is one 
of the first names in the history of mankind. 


THE THIRTY YEARS’ WAR. 233 

The blessings bought by the Thirty Years’ 
War had been purchased at an awful price. 
To detail the mischief and horrors produced 
by this protracted contest is impossible. 
Such a detail would compel us to notice the 
XII. Re.suits of the checks to improvement, the 

Thirty Years’ War. 

I. Evil Results. waste of Wealth and life, the 
physical and mental suffering, the overflowing 
of corruption and ferocity, by which the 
course of the war was marked. “In the 
dreary picture we see whole regions depop- 
ulated, schools deserted, churches destroyed, 
lands where the pleasant voice of the vine- 
dresser was wont to be heard turned into a 
lair of wild beasts, a desolate and howling 
wilderness ; cities once flourishing, burnt 
down or in ruins, and almost without inhab- 
itants; three-fourths of the population, in 
some places, gone; soldiers and peasants 
mutilating each other with rival barbarity; 
pestilence sweeping away whole armies ; 


234 A HISTORIC SKETCH OF 

famine stalking abroad in its various shapes 
of need and voracity, and at last stifling the 
strongest and most tender feelings of the 
human heart.” The wounds which Germany 
received are not all healed to this hour. To 
Roman Catholic princes had been committed 
the work of preserving German unity. The 
result of their guardianship was persecution, 
bloodshed, severance of the dearest ties, na- 
tional ruin. Under the fairer auspices of 
Protestantism, with its guaranties of freedom 
and its spirit of toleration, a new era of 
hope is now beginning, and the war of 1870, 
which unites Germany against a foreign foe, 
may, by God’s grace, help to remove the dis- 
severance and alienation which was one of the 
worst results of that long struggle in which 
the sons of Germany struck at each others’ 
hearts. 

The Thirty Years’ War, as our historic 
outline shows, was really not one war, but a 


THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. 235 

series of wars, which went on for thirty years ; 
sometimes more than one*var being waged at 
a time. Every great nation in Europe was 
brought into it in some way. Though it was 
really a war for religious liberty, yet, as in 
everything with which poor fallen man has to 
do, many other feelings mingled with the 
right one. Some Protestant princes for 
a while were on the wrong side, either 
because they thought they ought not to 
fight against their emperor, or because they 
were misled by selfish or mistaken views. 
France, though it was a Roman Catholic 
country, took part with the Protestants be- 
cause France was afraid and jealous of the 
power of the German empire. If she loved 
Rome much, she loved herself more. She 
was then just what she is now. But very 
often in these great wars what man means is 
one thing and what God means is another. 
The Thirty Years’ War was, therefore, in fact, 


236 A HISTORIC SKETCH. 

the greatest war in the history of the world 
for truth and freedom of conscience. Its 
2. Good Results. triumphant close dispelled 
the horror and doubt which had so long 
mingled with the fears of the Protestant 
world. Had Germany fallen, all Protest- 
antism would have fallen with her. That 
great future which has followed those scenes 
of blood would never have risen upon the 
world. There would now be no free Ger- 
many, no free England, no free America, 
and this nineteenth century, with the two 
which preceded it, would have fallen in as a 
part of the Dark Ages restored. The Thirty 
Years’ War saved the past, and thus made a 
future possible. It was a war for the dearest 
interests of all mankind; the most important 
and the most beneficent, as it was the most 
terrible, of the wars by which God has scourged 
and blessed the world. 



1855 . 1870 . 

LUTHERAN PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

No. 42 NORTH NINTH STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 

«7. K. SJiryocJc, Superintendent. 



E take pleasure in announcing to the 
Church and to the Trade in general, that 
we have commenced the publication of 


the 


as follows: 


‘'THE COTTAGE bythe LAKE.^^ 

Translated from the German of Martin Claudius, by 
Miss R. H. ScHiVELY. “When the need is sorest God’s 
help is nearest.” • 

16mo, Cloth, a Beautiful Frontispiece, 160 pages, $0.75. 

“ This volume will supply a want in our Sunday-school 
Libraries, t3 which the Religious Press has called attention 
— books of a more devotional and evangelical character. 
The Wilmer Family is characteiized by all that makes the 

I 


2 


‘Schoenberg Cotta Family’ so uni veiially attractive. * * ^ 
We can confidently recommend this book, translated with 
all elegance of diction, and with all the warmth and pathos 
of the German heart. * * * All classes will be instructed 
and elevated by this kind of literature. It has channs for 
the youthful and the mature, and will profit every one.” — 
Mrs. E. B. S. 


'aN THE MIDST OFTHE NORTH SEA.” 

From the German of Marie Roskowska, by 
J. F. Smith, Esq. 

16mo, Cloth, Two Engravings, $0.75. 

A story of life upon one of the lonely little islands (or 
Halligen) lying in the North Sea off the German coast. 
The loneliness and the dangers accompanying a residence 
upon these barren, marshy spots, are dramatically described, 
and the characteristics of the two families are painted most 
naturally. The incidents of “ Lost in the Fog,” “ The 
Shipwreck,” and “The Inundation,” are full of interest; 
and the earnest piety that pervades the narrative will recom- 
mend it to any Christian family or Sabbath School. The 
tale is full of excitement, and yet is anything but sensational. 


ANTON, THE FISHERMAN.^' 

By Franz Hoffmann. Translated by Mrs. M. A. 

Manderson. 

16mo, Cloth. Three Fine Original Engravings, $0.85. 

“ A very*interesting story of humble life, illustrating do- 
mestic happiness, and the prevalence of industry, manliness, 
and integrity — together with the providential deliverances 
that sometimes occur in the midst of the trials that beset 
the believing poor.” — TAe Lutheran and Missionary, 
Fhiladelphia. 


3 


“Anton, the Fisherman.” — “We call the special at 
lention of the public to this beautiful book, just issued 
by the Lutheran Board of Publication. It is from the 
famous Hoffmann of Dresden, who has won a world-wide 
fame as the writer of popular stories for the young. The 
translation is so natural and graceful, that no one would 
suspect its German origin. The book is in the best style 
of book-making, and has elicited universal admiration. 
Let the Church encourage our publications, with a prompt, 
cheerful, and generous patronage .” — Lutheran Observer. 


^'Rene, the Little Savoyard.^’ 

By Franz Hoffmann. Translated by J. F. Smith, Esq. 
16mo, Cloth, Two Excellent Original Engravings, $0.85. 

“ I have just read with great pleasure, ‘ Rene in your 
very attractive Fatherland Series. It is a brilliant little 
story, and is well translated. The children (and their 
parents) will be delighted with these pure and beautiful 
books, which I hope may have the wide circulation they 
deserve.” Yours, C. P. Krauth. 


‘‘FRITZ; OR, FILIAL LOVE.^^ 

By Franz Hoffmann. Translated by M. A. Manderson. 
16mo, Cloth, One First Class Original Engraving, $0.65. 

“A charming story, founded upon the life of one of 
Frederick the Great’s generals. The healthy pious tone 
that pervades the book, as well as the literary merit, should 
recommend it to every family and Sunday-school Library. 
We venture to say that no boy will read this pleasant nar- 
rative without wishing to know more of Prussia’s great 
king. 


8 


York^ Pa.y April 4, 1870. 

** Please send me * Cottage by the Lake.’ The othef 
volumes of the Fatherland Series I have. I am much 
pleased with the books. If you publish a thousand volumes, 
send them all to me, and draw on me for the amount they 
cost J. H. Menges.” 

Lockport, April 9, 1870. 

Since I have three of the Series you are publishing at 
present, I would desire to have the first number — ‘The 
Cottage by the Lake.’ This ntynber you have not sent me. 
Those you sent me I read with great interest, and am much 
pleased with them, and trust they may be largely circulated. 

“ Yours, truly, M. 

Canton, O., April 1870. 

“ Enclosed find the amount of your bill for the ‘ Father- 
land Series.’ The books are very interesting, and my 
children are delighted with them. 

“Yours, L. M. Kuhns.” 

Harrisburg, April 7, 1870. 

‘Your book entitled ‘Fritz,’ is all right. Go ahead; 
the more of that kind you publish the better. 

“Your.<, fraternally, G. F. Steeling.” 

Selinsgrove, April 6, 1870. 

“ I am glad to see you bringing out such nice, neat books. 
You can send us one copy of all new publications until 
otherwise ordered. Consider us standing subscribers. 

“Yours, J. G. L. Shindel.” 

Frostburg, Md., April 6 , 1870. 

‘“The Fatherland Series’ I am pleased with. They 
compare favorably with any of the publications of the day 
— are a credit to the Society. 

“ Yours, 


H. Bishop.” 




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